Nov 2008
WFAA8's Brad Hawkins books flight to Southwest Airlines position (updated)
11/25/08 12:11 PM
By ED BARK
Brad Hawkins, co-anchor of WFAA8's Daybreak since July and a member of the station's news team since January 2000, will be leaving next month to take a public relations position with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
WFAA8 news director Michael Valentine confirmed Hawkins' departure Tuesday and also said that his last day at the station will be on Christmas Eve, when he'll sign off after anchoring WFAA8's Midday newscast.
"I wish nothing but the best for Brad. He's a fantastic guy," Valentine said. "He just found a situation that he thought would be better for him."
Daybreak has hit a ratings slump of late, and will run third in the November "sweeps" in both total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Hawkins, in a subsequent interview, said he made the decision on his own and was not under any pressure to leave WFAA8.
"I feel I'm jumping from one of local TV's greatest news dynasties to one of the most emulated and respected companies in the world," he said. "I didn't see this opportunity coming again any time soon. And I'm at a crossroads in terms of opening myself to new challenges and new skills."
Hawkins began co-anchoring Daybreak with incumbent Cynthia Izaguirre after Justin Farmer left WFAA8 in July to become an anchor at WSB-TV in Atlanta. WFAA8 had committed to Hawkins for at least the rest of this year. Beyond that, "no final decision had been made," Valentine said Tuesday. "But we thought Brad did a fine job. So we certainly could have envisioned a decision where he was still part of the morning team."
With Hawkins' departure, "we're back at it again," Valentine said of Daybreak's future anchor team. "It's just another change to a show that continues to change. We will search for his replacement immediately."
Another interim co-anchor might be named after Hawkins leaves WFAA8, but "we're not there yet," Valentine said. He also noted that from May to September, 40 percent of Nielsen Media Research's in-home ratings meters have turned over in the D-FW market. "That's a monster number" in his view.
November has been a setback for Daybreak, Valentine acknowledged. But a shift of just six meters can make the difference between being first and third in the early mornings, he said.
"If you look at an individual number (for a sweeps month) and freak out or go crazy, you're not doing anyone any good," Valentine said.
Fox4's Good Day will win the 6 a.m. November sweeps competition by relatively comfortable margins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, with a rebounding NBC5 finishing second.
Fox4 also won the November 2007 sweeps in both ratings measurements. But WFAA8 ran a solid second a year ago while NBC5 lagged well behind in third.
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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Nov. 24)
11/25/08 12:11 PM
By ED BARK
ABC's Dancing with the Stars performance final proved to be a shoe-in as Monday's top draw before CBS' CSI: Miami again made crime pay in prime-time's closing hour.
Dancing amassed 518,154 D-FW viewers from 7 to 8:30 p.m. to squash CBS' runnerup sitcom lineup of The Big Bang Theory (239,148 viewers), How I Met Your Mother (212,576) and Two and a Half Men (352,079).
ABC's Samantha Who? then took the 8:30 p.m. slot in total viewers, even though plummeting to 292,229 of 'em. CSI: Miami cruised in at 9 p.m. with 345,436 viewers.
Dancing also called the tune among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, but Samantha Who? fell to third place behind the second half-hour of NBC's Heroes and CBS' Worst Week. The 9 p.m. gold in the 18-to-49 demo went to CSI: Miami.
In the local newscast derby, CBS11 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers, with WFAA8 taking first place among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. and WFAA8 did likewise at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. winners were Fox4 and NBC5 in total viewers, and the Peacock among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The 20-weekday November "sweeps" ratings period officially ends Wednesday, but in reality will be all but over after Tuesday's Nielsen ratings are in.
That's because Thanksgiving eve is considered an in-transit travel day, with most newscasts traditionally carrying an "H" for holiday designation. Stations that choose this option can count one, two, three or all of Wednesday's newscast out of the final ratings averages.
So we hope to bring you a final sweeps report in the next daily "ratings snapshot," although unclebarky.com also has traveling plans that may not wait.
ABC's Dancing with the Stars performance final proved to be a shoe-in as Monday's top draw before CBS' CSI: Miami again made crime pay in prime-time's closing hour.
Dancing amassed 518,154 D-FW viewers from 7 to 8:30 p.m. to squash CBS' runnerup sitcom lineup of The Big Bang Theory (239,148 viewers), How I Met Your Mother (212,576) and Two and a Half Men (352,079).
ABC's Samantha Who? then took the 8:30 p.m. slot in total viewers, even though plummeting to 292,229 of 'em. CSI: Miami cruised in at 9 p.m. with 345,436 viewers.
Dancing also called the tune among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, but Samantha Who? fell to third place behind the second half-hour of NBC's Heroes and CBS' Worst Week. The 9 p.m. gold in the 18-to-49 demo went to CSI: Miami.
In the local newscast derby, CBS11 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers, with WFAA8 taking first place among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. and WFAA8 did likewise at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. winners were Fox4 and NBC5 in total viewers, and the Peacock among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The 20-weekday November "sweeps" ratings period officially ends Wednesday, but in reality will be all but over after Tuesday's Nielsen ratings are in.
That's because Thanksgiving eve is considered an in-transit travel day, with most newscasts traditionally carrying an "H" for holiday designation. Stations that choose this option can count one, two, three or all of Wednesday's newscast out of the final ratings averages.
So we hope to bring you a final sweeps report in the next daily "ratings snapshot," although unclebarky.com also has traveling plans that may not wait.
KERA's Albert Acalay: Self Portraits paints vividly, movingly
11/24/08 11:31 AM
By ED BARK
Albert Alcalay lived and painted on a relatively small landscape compared to the splashier artists of his day.
He was no Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dali or Andy Warhol, all of whom sought and basked in the attention paid them.
Alcalay, who died in March at the age of 90, made quieter brushstrokes while hoping that his art might at least have a modest impact.
KERA/Channel 13's Albert Alcalay: Self Portraits, in its own way a masterpiece, is a vivid and touching look at this Holocaust survivor who began putting brush to canvas while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.
Premiering at 8 p.m. Monday as part of the station's Art&Seek series of original programming, the one-hour film is the work of former Harvard students Rob Eustis, Allen Moore and KERA veteran Rob Tranchin (Matisse & Picasso). All three took art classes from Alcalay in the late 1970s, and now are paying tribute to him as artists in their own right.
"Painting for me is like an oxygen. Something that's part of me," Alcalay says in the early minutes of the film. We hear these words while he slowly makes his way upstairs to a sunlit studio where he can still light up a sketchbook with his watercolors, even though legally blind.
Self Portraits is without any narrative or interviewer questions. It's more than enough for Alcalay to show and tell us about a life lived in full. Closeups of his many and varied impressionist landscapes often are accompanied by the American jazz music he grew to love after coming to America in 1951 and drinking in the sights/sounds of Times Square.
Alcalay also painted a relative handful of self-portraits, all depicting him as an unsmiling, introspective survivor. The filmmakers frame his crystal-clear reflection in a mirror while he talks about his first self-portrait, which we also see by Alcalay's side. It's a beautifully done segment, a work of art in itself.
Much later in life, Alcalay impulsively sketched a self-portrait in a hospital bathroom just before undergoing successful double bypass surgery. We see this visage, too, and his eyes look even more deep-set.
This is not the story of a brooder, though. Alcalay paints in mostly bright, bold colors while intent on finding new ways to illustrate the emotions that drive his brushstrokes. While in his studio, "I always like the sun to hit me," he says, meaning this literally.
Toward the end of his life, Alcalay revisited the five years he spent both on the run and in captivity. He briefly weeps while talking about his painting of a mountainous region in Italy where he and his family found refuge in a kindly peasant's cottage.
Albert Alcalay: Self Portraits is an exemplary tribute to an artist of many colors and experiences. He painted until the very end, imprecisely dabbing his brushstrokes in a sketch pad while enjoying it none the less.
"Even a deaf composer composes, so why not a blind painter paints?" Alcalay asks with the good nature of a man whose life makes us smile in the end.
GRADE: A
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Nov. 21-23)
11/24/08 10:35 AM
By ED BARK
The Cowboys' relatively easy win over San Francisco reigned over another Sunday dominated by pro football from noon to late night.
Fox's early afternoon festivities from Texas Stadium averaged a giant-sized 1,129,310 D-FW viewers from noon to 3:15 p.m. A big share of the audience then stayed with Fox's Giants-Cardinals followup act, which drew 837,018 viewers opposite CBS's throwaway game between the Raiders and Broncos (79,716 viewers).
In prime-time, NBC's Colts-Chargers matchup averaged 365,363 viewers in knocking off ABC's competing three-hour American Music Awards (292,292 viewers). From 7 to 9 p.m., Fox's two-hour 24: Redemption movie had 252,434 viewers.
College football controlled Saturday's prime-time Nielsens, although Oklahoma's massacre of previously unbeaten Texas Tech no doubt put a lid on the game's ratings potential. The 65-21 stomp averaged 305,578 total viewers, peaking between 7:45 and 8 p.m. with 352,079 before ratings deflation kicked in.
CBS routed competing networks on Friday night with a lineup of Ghost Whisperer (232,505 viewers), a rerun of its breakout new hit The Mentalist (305,578 viewers) and Numb3ers (279,006 viewers).
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 took the gold at 10 p.m. in total viewers, but fell to second behind CBS11 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m., although its margin of victory over NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demo was a statistically insignificant two-one hundredths of a rating point (607 viewers). WFAA8 again ran third. And with just three weekdays remaining in the November "sweeps," it has scant hope of improving that position in either ratings measurement.
WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. newscast competition, where it remains rock-solid. At 5 p.m., WFAA8 and Fox4 tied for first in total viewers, with WFAA8 winning among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The Cowboys' relatively easy win over San Francisco reigned over another Sunday dominated by pro football from noon to late night.
Fox's early afternoon festivities from Texas Stadium averaged a giant-sized 1,129,310 D-FW viewers from noon to 3:15 p.m. A big share of the audience then stayed with Fox's Giants-Cardinals followup act, which drew 837,018 viewers opposite CBS's throwaway game between the Raiders and Broncos (79,716 viewers).
In prime-time, NBC's Colts-Chargers matchup averaged 365,363 viewers in knocking off ABC's competing three-hour American Music Awards (292,292 viewers). From 7 to 9 p.m., Fox's two-hour 24: Redemption movie had 252,434 viewers.
College football controlled Saturday's prime-time Nielsens, although Oklahoma's massacre of previously unbeaten Texas Tech no doubt put a lid on the game's ratings potential. The 65-21 stomp averaged 305,578 total viewers, peaking between 7:45 and 8 p.m. with 352,079 before ratings deflation kicked in.
CBS routed competing networks on Friday night with a lineup of Ghost Whisperer (232,505 viewers), a rerun of its breakout new hit The Mentalist (305,578 viewers) and Numb3ers (279,006 viewers).
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 took the gold at 10 p.m. in total viewers, but fell to second behind CBS11 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m., although its margin of victory over NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demo was a statistically insignificant two-one hundredths of a rating point (607 viewers). WFAA8 again ran third. And with just three weekdays remaining in the November "sweeps," it has scant hope of improving that position in either ratings measurement.
WFAA8 swept the 6 p.m. newscast competition, where it remains rock-solid. At 5 p.m., WFAA8 and Fox4 tied for first in total viewers, with WFAA8 winning among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Nov. 20)
11/21/08 12:05 PM
By ED BARK
Rack up another dominating night for CBS, which swept the prime-time Nielsens in total viewers and won all but one time slot among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS' Survivor: Gabon took the 7 p.m. gold with 232,505 D-FW viewers before CSI: Crime Scene Investigation swelled to 365,365 viewers and the new Eleventh Hour closed the night with 279,006 viewers.
Survivor and Eleventh Hour also were tops with 18-to-49-year-olds while CSI's 136,130 viewers of those ages came up a bit short of ABC's Grey's Anatomy (162,060).
In the local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. ratings in both total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
But its early morning woes continued, with Fox4 again leading the 6 a.m. pack in both measurements while WFAA8 ran third in total viewers and slid to fourth behind CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demo.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Fox4's critically praised half-hour JFK: The Dallas Tapes, originally made in 1998, will get two encores on Friday at 9:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. You also can watch it on the station's Web site.
Rack up another dominating night for CBS, which swept the prime-time Nielsens in total viewers and won all but one time slot among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds.
CBS' Survivor: Gabon took the 7 p.m. gold with 232,505 D-FW viewers before CSI: Crime Scene Investigation swelled to 365,365 viewers and the new Eleventh Hour closed the night with 279,006 viewers.
Survivor and Eleventh Hour also were tops with 18-to-49-year-olds while CSI's 136,130 viewers of those ages came up a bit short of ABC's Grey's Anatomy (162,060).
In the local news derby, WFAA8 swept the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. ratings in both total viewers and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
But its early morning woes continued, with Fox4 again leading the 6 a.m. pack in both measurements while WFAA8 ran third in total viewers and slid to fourth behind CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demo.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Fox4's critically praised half-hour JFK: The Dallas Tapes, originally made in 1998, will get two encores on Friday at 9:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. You also can watch it on the station's Web site.
NBC5 meteorologist James Aydelott heading back home to Tulsa
11/20/08 04:06 PM
By ED BARK
NBC5 meteorologist James Aydelott, who works weekends and various weekday shifts, is leaving the station to become the featured forecaster at Tulsa's Fox affiliate, KOKI-TV.
Aydelott, who joined NBC5 in June 2005, will remain with the station through this year before returning to his hometown. He previously had spent 10 years as a weatherman for Tulsa's CBS station.
"It's a terrific opportunity to be a chief meteorologist in a severe weather market," Aydelott said in an email to unclebarky.com Thursday. "My mother lives there, and she's thrilled. She already has a four-page 'Sonny-do-list' for me."
Aydelott's wife, Robyn, currently a promotions producer at CBS11, is from Springfield, MO, "and this puts us much closer to her family as well," he said. "This was a very hard decision to make. Robyn and I both love living here and working here. I've grown so much at NBC5, both personally and professionally. I seems there's never a dull moment around here, and every competing station does such a great job with all the non-dull moments, too"
Aydelott praised longstanding NBC5 chief meteorologist David Finfrock as a role model and friend who helped to improve his weathercasting skills. Still, nobody's perfect in fair weather or foul.
"I will take my 'viewer complaint email hall of fame' with me," Aydelott said. "There's nothing like severe weather coverage to generate a full in-box."
Dan Rather to speak -- er, make that "unspeak" -- at Sixth Floor Museum Nov. 22 (updated)
11/20/08 03:35 PM
By ED BARK
Single bullet theory, anybody?
Dan Rather's announced Nov. 22nd presentation in Dallas at The Sixth Floor Museum has been canceled just two days before it was supposed to happen.
Museum spokesperson Christina Carneal says the reason given by Rather's office is that "he has been called out of town."
Colette Carey, spokesperson for Rather and his weekly Dan Rather Reports on HDNet, later confirmed that Rather "is on assignment for his program." Which means that the Sixth Floor Museum's planned program suddenly is history.
Rather's coverage of John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas greatly accelerated his career at CBS News, where he eventually became chief White House correspondent and succeeded Walter Cronkite in 1981 as anchor of The CBS Evening News. In the end, that didn't turn out so well.
His speech in Dallas, scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday, was to have capped a series of free public programs titled Impressions of Jack Kennedy. Saturday will be the 45th anniversary of the assassination.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Nov. 19 plus 15-day Nov. sweeps newscast standings)
11/20/08 10:11 AM
By ED BARK
Barring any super-charged rallies in the last five days, WFAA8 and Fox4 have the local newscast golds locked up as the November "sweeps" ratings competition hits the homestretch.
But moral victories are still very much in play, with all four combatants hoping to save face in one or more of the four major battle zones. Here's how they stand at the 15-day mark in total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
10 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 285,649
CBS11 -- 232,505
NBC5 -- 159,432
Fox4 -- 146,146
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 136,589
CBS11 -- 100,165
Fox4 -- 91,059
NBC5 -- 72,847
Note: CBS11 benefits on most weeknights from strong lead-in programming provided by its network. It's doing an increasingly better job of retaining it. Fox4 now looks like a sure bet to push NBC5 into last place among 25-to-54-year-olds for the first time since Fox became its owner in July 1995. It also still has a fighting chance to overtake NBC5 in total viewers.
6 A.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 146,146
NBC5 -- 106,288
WFAA8 -- 86,359
CBS11 -- 53,144
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 81,953
NBC5 -- 69,820
WFAA8 -- 63,741
CBS11 -- 33,388
Note: Fox4 has led this race all the way while a severe ratings slump during the past three weekdays leaves WFAA8 in serious jeopardy of running third in both ratings measurements. It already has very little chance of catching runnerup NBC5 in total viewers and will need a strong finishing kick to dig out of third among 25-to-54-year-olds. In the total viewers measurement, WFAA8 now is much closer to fourth place CBS11 than to first-place Fox4. That didn't seem possible at the start of the sweeps.
6 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 225,862
NBC5 -- 119,574
CBS11 -- 112,931
Fox4 -- 106,288
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 97,130
Fox4 and NBC5 -- 48,565 apiece
CBS11 -- 33,388
Note: WFAA8 remains a dominant force at this hour, nearly doubling the audiences for its nearest challenger in both ratings barometers. That said, there's still a helluva race for second place.
5 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 139,503
Fox4 and NBC5 -- 112,931 apiece
CBS11 -- 73,073
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 69,820
Fox4 -- 54,635
NBC5 -- 45,530
CBS11 -- 18,212
Note: WFAA8 looked vulnerable going into the sweeps, but will continue its nearly two-decade winning streak at this hour. Fox4 is in strong position to take the silver in both ratings measurements. CBS11 is dead in the water in what's become its weakest competitive position in the four major combat zones.
WEDNESDAY'S D-FW NIELSENS
Fox's Bones won the 7 p.m. hour in total viewers before CBS' crime drama combo of Criminal Minds and CSI:NY flexed with runaway first place finishes from 8 to 10 p.m.
It was CBS all the way, though, among 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for entertainment programming. In that measurement, Bones slid to fourth place from 7 to 8 p.m. behind the CBS sitcoms Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, The CW's America's Top Model and NBC's Knight Rider.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 and CBS11 tied for first at 10 p.m., with WFAA8 taking the 25-to-54 gold.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 and NBC5 shared first place, but the Peacock won among 25-to-54-year-olds.
WFAA8 swept the 5 and 6 p.m. newscast competitions.
Barring any super-charged rallies in the last five days, WFAA8 and Fox4 have the local newscast golds locked up as the November "sweeps" ratings competition hits the homestretch.
But moral victories are still very much in play, with all four combatants hoping to save face in one or more of the four major battle zones. Here's how they stand at the 15-day mark in total viewers and with 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
10 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 285,649
CBS11 -- 232,505
NBC5 -- 159,432
Fox4 -- 146,146
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 136,589
CBS11 -- 100,165
Fox4 -- 91,059
NBC5 -- 72,847
Note: CBS11 benefits on most weeknights from strong lead-in programming provided by its network. It's doing an increasingly better job of retaining it. Fox4 now looks like a sure bet to push NBC5 into last place among 25-to-54-year-olds for the first time since Fox became its owner in July 1995. It also still has a fighting chance to overtake NBC5 in total viewers.
6 A.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 146,146
NBC5 -- 106,288
WFAA8 -- 86,359
CBS11 -- 53,144
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 81,953
NBC5 -- 69,820
WFAA8 -- 63,741
CBS11 -- 33,388
Note: Fox4 has led this race all the way while a severe ratings slump during the past three weekdays leaves WFAA8 in serious jeopardy of running third in both ratings measurements. It already has very little chance of catching runnerup NBC5 in total viewers and will need a strong finishing kick to dig out of third among 25-to-54-year-olds. In the total viewers measurement, WFAA8 now is much closer to fourth place CBS11 than to first-place Fox4. That didn't seem possible at the start of the sweeps.
6 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 225,862
NBC5 -- 119,574
CBS11 -- 112,931
Fox4 -- 106,288
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 97,130
Fox4 and NBC5 -- 48,565 apiece
CBS11 -- 33,388
Note: WFAA8 remains a dominant force at this hour, nearly doubling the audiences for its nearest challenger in both ratings barometers. That said, there's still a helluva race for second place.
5 P.M.
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 139,503
Fox4 and NBC5 -- 112,931 apiece
CBS11 -- 73,073
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 69,820
Fox4 -- 54,635
NBC5 -- 45,530
CBS11 -- 18,212
Note: WFAA8 looked vulnerable going into the sweeps, but will continue its nearly two-decade winning streak at this hour. Fox4 is in strong position to take the silver in both ratings measurements. CBS11 is dead in the water in what's become its weakest competitive position in the four major combat zones.
WEDNESDAY'S D-FW NIELSENS
Fox's Bones won the 7 p.m. hour in total viewers before CBS' crime drama combo of Criminal Minds and CSI:NY flexed with runaway first place finishes from 8 to 10 p.m.
It was CBS all the way, though, among 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for entertainment programming. In that measurement, Bones slid to fourth place from 7 to 8 p.m. behind the CBS sitcoms Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, The CW's America's Top Model and NBC's Knight Rider.
In the local news derby, WFAA8 and CBS11 tied for first at 10 p.m., with WFAA8 taking the 25-to-54 gold.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 and NBC5 shared first place, but the Peacock won among 25-to-54-year-olds.
WFAA8 swept the 5 and 6 p.m. newscast competitions.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Nov. 18)
11/19/08 10:04 AM
By ED BARK
CBS and ABC again battled for prime-time dominance Tuesday while Fox and NBC mostly watched the world go by.
NCIS as usual jump-started CBS, comfortably winning the 7 p.m. hour in both total viewers (378,651) and advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds (119,924).
CBS The Mentalist, this fall's only breakaway new hit, then edged ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show in total viewers (385,294 to 239,148). Dancing dug in its heels with 18-to-49-year-olds, though, nipping Mentalist by a score of 123,166 to 119,924. Yowsa.
The 9 p.m. fights went to ABC's Eli Stone, which beat CBS' Without A Trace by barely a hair in total viewers (243,134 to 241,141). In the 18-to-49-year-old division, Eli racked up 84,271 viewers to edge NBC's runnerup Law & Order: SVU (81,030 viewers).
Fox's House, better than ever this season, ran third at 7 p.m. in total viewers, beating only the first hour of NBC's Biggest Loser. But Loser nipped House for third place among 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC's Dancing recap hour landing in the basement.
At 8 p.m., Fox's Fringe fell to fourth place in both ratings measurements.
The local news derby numbers put WFAA8 and Fox4 in the winners' circles.
WFAA8 took the 6 and 10 p.m. newscast competitions and also won the gold at 5 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 ran first in total viewers at 5 p.m. and again ran the table at 6 a.m., where WFAA's woes continued with a second straight day of distant third place finishes.
WFAA8 and NBC5 remain locked in a tight fight for second place at 6 a.m., with six weekdays remaining in the 20-day November "sweeps" ratings competition.
CBS and ABC again battled for prime-time dominance Tuesday while Fox and NBC mostly watched the world go by.
NCIS as usual jump-started CBS, comfortably winning the 7 p.m. hour in both total viewers (378,651) and advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds (119,924).
CBS The Mentalist, this fall's only breakaway new hit, then edged ABC's Dancing with the Stars results show in total viewers (385,294 to 239,148). Dancing dug in its heels with 18-to-49-year-olds, though, nipping Mentalist by a score of 123,166 to 119,924. Yowsa.
The 9 p.m. fights went to ABC's Eli Stone, which beat CBS' Without A Trace by barely a hair in total viewers (243,134 to 241,141). In the 18-to-49-year-old division, Eli racked up 84,271 viewers to edge NBC's runnerup Law & Order: SVU (81,030 viewers).
Fox's House, better than ever this season, ran third at 7 p.m. in total viewers, beating only the first hour of NBC's Biggest Loser. But Loser nipped House for third place among 18-to-49-year-olds, with ABC's Dancing recap hour landing in the basement.
At 8 p.m., Fox's Fringe fell to fourth place in both ratings measurements.
The local news derby numbers put WFAA8 and Fox4 in the winners' circles.
WFAA8 took the 6 and 10 p.m. newscast competitions and also won the gold at 5 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 ran first in total viewers at 5 p.m. and again ran the table at 6 a.m., where WFAA's woes continued with a second straight day of distant third place finishes.
WFAA8 and NBC5 remain locked in a tight fight for second place at 6 a.m., with six weekdays remaining in the 20-day November "sweeps" ratings competition.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Nov. 17)
11/18/08 11:38 AM
By ED BARK
ABC and CBS again shared Monday's prime-time spoils while CBS11 uncommonly swept the 10 p.m. newscast ratings for the second straight weeknight.
Meanwhile, NBC5's 10 p.m. newscast fell down an elevator shaft, as did WFAA8's 6 a.m. Daybreak on Day 13 of the 20-weekday November "sweeps" competition.
ABC's latest Dancing with the Stars performance show had the most total viewers from 7 to 8:30 p.m., luring 345,463 of 'em.
CBS' Worst Week sitcom (212,576 viewers) then nipped ABC's Samantha Who? (205,933 viewers) at 8:30 p.m. before CBS' CSI: Miami mopped up with a dominating 272,363 viewers.
It played differently among advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS swept the prime-time field while ABC fell to second place with Dancing, dipped to third with Samantha Who? and then plunged to fourth from 9 to 10 p.m. with Boston Legal.
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast took advantage of the 9:45 to 10 p.m. lead-in mismatch by bumping WFAA8 to second place in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 will still win the November competition by a comfortable margin. But CBS11 now has a virtual lock on second place while NBC5 fights to stay out of fourth place for the first time in the station's history.
Fox4 thumped NBC5 Monday in the 25-to-54 competition, where only a furious stretch drive by the Peacock will keep it out of the cellar. NBC5 likewise took a beating in Monday's total viewers Nielsens, where the race for third place is still too close to call.
Fox4's Good Day again topped the 6 a.m. field in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds. It's now a strong bet to cross the Nov. 26th finish line with first place finish in both ratings measurements.
WFAA8's fortunes in turn dimmed with a pair of distant third-place finishes in this key wake-up hour. But with seven mornings yet to be counted, WFAA8 remains in a tight horse race for second place with NBC5. No decaf allowed.
The 6 p.m. races again went to WFAA8, which has been cruising since Day 1. At 5 p.m., NBC5 won in total viewers but WFAA8 countered with a first place finish among 25-to-54-year-olds. WFAA8 likely will end up notching twin wins at 5 p.m., where it hasn't been beaten since the late 1980s.
ABC and CBS again shared Monday's prime-time spoils while CBS11 uncommonly swept the 10 p.m. newscast ratings for the second straight weeknight.
Meanwhile, NBC5's 10 p.m. newscast fell down an elevator shaft, as did WFAA8's 6 a.m. Daybreak on Day 13 of the 20-weekday November "sweeps" competition.
ABC's latest Dancing with the Stars performance show had the most total viewers from 7 to 8:30 p.m., luring 345,463 of 'em.
CBS' Worst Week sitcom (212,576 viewers) then nipped ABC's Samantha Who? (205,933 viewers) at 8:30 p.m. before CBS' CSI: Miami mopped up with a dominating 272,363 viewers.
It played differently among advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS swept the prime-time field while ABC fell to second place with Dancing, dipped to third with Samantha Who? and then plunged to fourth from 9 to 10 p.m. with Boston Legal.
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast took advantage of the 9:45 to 10 p.m. lead-in mismatch by bumping WFAA8 to second place in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 will still win the November competition by a comfortable margin. But CBS11 now has a virtual lock on second place while NBC5 fights to stay out of fourth place for the first time in the station's history.
Fox4 thumped NBC5 Monday in the 25-to-54 competition, where only a furious stretch drive by the Peacock will keep it out of the cellar. NBC5 likewise took a beating in Monday's total viewers Nielsens, where the race for third place is still too close to call.
Fox4's Good Day again topped the 6 a.m. field in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds. It's now a strong bet to cross the Nov. 26th finish line with first place finish in both ratings measurements.
WFAA8's fortunes in turn dimmed with a pair of distant third-place finishes in this key wake-up hour. But with seven mornings yet to be counted, WFAA8 remains in a tight horse race for second place with NBC5. No decaf allowed.
The 6 p.m. races again went to WFAA8, which has been cruising since Day 1. At 5 p.m., NBC5 won in total viewers but WFAA8 countered with a first place finish among 25-to-54-year-olds. WFAA8 likely will end up notching twin wins at 5 p.m., where it hasn't been beaten since the late 1980s.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Nov. 14-16)
11/17/08 10:57 AM
By ED BARK
Nipping Washington's Redskins beats a beating by New York's Giants, ratings-wise and otherwise.
The Cowboys' defense-dominated 14-10 win on NBC's Sunday Night Football drew 1.4 million D-FW viewers congregated in 854,070 North Texas homes. That's a nice spike from two Sundays ago, when 1.03 million viewers in 697,200 homes cringed through New York's 35-14 win on Fox's early Sunday game.
CBS' big Sunday night event, the first post-election interview with Barack and Michelle Obama, lured 391,937 viewers to 60 Minutes, delayed until 6:30 p.m. by the Steelers-Chargers football runover. The climactic 6 to 6:30 p.m. portion of the game had 624,442 viewers.
Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the Dallas Mavericks' overtime road win over New York snapped a five-game losing streak. But the game averaged just 26,572 D-FW viewers from its 5 p.m. start to 7:35 p.m. finish. Even Ch. 52's Sunday night Gunsmoke rerun did better than that, drawing 33,215 viewers despite airing from 8 to 9 p.m. opposite the Cowboys.
In Friday's local news derby, CBS11 came up big at 10 p.m. with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 did likewise in the 5 and 6 p.m. news competitions.
Fox4's half-hour salute to anchor Clarice Tinsley's 30 years at the station drew 66,430 viewers from 9:30 to 10 p.m., dipping from 99,645 viewers for the preceding half-hour of the station's 9 p.m. local newscast.
CBS' Numbers was Friday's most-watched prime-time attraction, with 259,077 viewers from 9 to 10 p.m. opposite Barbara Walters' exclusive interview of a pregnant man on ABC's 20/20 (112,931 viewers).
Nipping Washington's Redskins beats a beating by New York's Giants, ratings-wise and otherwise.
The Cowboys' defense-dominated 14-10 win on NBC's Sunday Night Football drew 1.4 million D-FW viewers congregated in 854,070 North Texas homes. That's a nice spike from two Sundays ago, when 1.03 million viewers in 697,200 homes cringed through New York's 35-14 win on Fox's early Sunday game.
CBS' big Sunday night event, the first post-election interview with Barack and Michelle Obama, lured 391,937 viewers to 60 Minutes, delayed until 6:30 p.m. by the Steelers-Chargers football runover. The climactic 6 to 6:30 p.m. portion of the game had 624,442 viewers.
Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the Dallas Mavericks' overtime road win over New York snapped a five-game losing streak. But the game averaged just 26,572 D-FW viewers from its 5 p.m. start to 7:35 p.m. finish. Even Ch. 52's Sunday night Gunsmoke rerun did better than that, drawing 33,215 viewers despite airing from 8 to 9 p.m. opposite the Cowboys.
In Friday's local news derby, CBS11 came up big at 10 p.m. with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m. while WFAA8 did likewise in the 5 and 6 p.m. news competitions.
Fox4's half-hour salute to anchor Clarice Tinsley's 30 years at the station drew 66,430 viewers from 9:30 to 10 p.m., dipping from 99,645 viewers for the preceding half-hour of the station's 9 p.m. local newscast.
CBS' Numbers was Friday's most-watched prime-time attraction, with 259,077 viewers from 9 to 10 p.m. opposite Barbara Walters' exclusive interview of a pregnant man on ABC's 20/20 (112,931 viewers).
Happy 30th anniversary to Fox4's Clarice Tinsley, reigning dean of D-FW news anchors
11/14/08 02:44 PM
By ED BARK
Having braved multiple station owners, news directors, co-anchors, hairstyles and columns by yours truly, Fox4 anchor Clarice Tinsley is now a 30-year veteran at KDFW-TV, otherwise known as Fox4.
Thirty years ago, on Nov. 13, 1978, she joined KDFW from WITI-TV in Milwaukee to become D-FW's newest big-time news anchor. She was 24 at the time. And on her very first 10 p.m. newscast -- Dec. 4 of that year -- she shared the desk with co-anchor Barry Judge, sports guy Allen Stone and the late Gary Bazner with the weather.
So yes, it's been awhile. And Fox4 will salute her with tonight's half-hour CT Celebrates 30 during the second half of its nightly 9 p.m. newscast.
No one else can match Tinsley's singular achievement of anchoring the news for 30 years at a single D-FW station. Tracy Rowlett came closest, logging a quarter century as WFAA8's signature news anchor before moving to CBS11 in 2000.
Rowlett is now out of the local anchoring picture after abruptly leaving CBS11 earlier this year for a Shale.TV gig that never materialized. So Tinsley now reigns as D-FW's dean of news anchors in what's become the country's fifth largest television market, behind only New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. That's no small achievement.
Tinsley is still co-anchoring the 10 p.m. news, and also the 5 p.m. broadcast with latter day partner Baron James. Through all these years she's experienced and endured enough intrigue at KDFW -- which became a Fox-owned station in July 1995 -- to write a book that would leave even former colleague Dale Hansen speechless.
Tinsley and Hansen, along with the late Chip Moody and weatherman Wayne Shattuck, formed a powerhouse foursome at Ch. 4 in the early 1980s. Their 10 p.m. ratings wars with WFAA8 now seem epic by today's standards.
Hansen got fired in March 1983, as he's said many, many times, by news director Bill Wilson, who previously had axed him from an Omaha, Neb. station. You might say he landed on his feet at WFAA8, where he's been ever since.
"She's the only one who's survived from the great run we had at Channel 4," Hansen said in an article I wrote on the occasion of Tinsley's now somewhat distant 25th anniversary at Channel 4. "Good things happen to good people, and she is one. She must have started straight out of high school, because she doesn't look a whole lot different. The bottom line is, if I had Tinsley's hair, I'd be on a network right now."
Before Hansen, Tinsley had shared air time at Milwaukee's WITI-TV with Albert the Alley Cat, a wisecracking weather puppet voiced off-air by the station's general manager. That made Albert somewhat difficult to dislodge. I know. I watched Albert outlast numerous human talent as a formative youth in Wisconsin.
It got better for Tinsley at Channel 4. Much better. In 1985 she won the nationally prestigious George Foster Peabody and Alfred I. duPont Columbia awards for her part in "A Call For Help," an investigative series on the 911 emergency call system. Tinsley's long-running "Clarice's Hometown Heroes" segments began a decade later.
Tinsley still operates out of closet-sized office adjoining the Channel 4 newsroom. She's been married to Dallas business executive Stephen Giles since 1987 and has always credited her parents, Janet and Clarence Tinsley, with being her lifelong role models. Her dad died in January, 1996.
"From them I gained a sense of how I would fit in the world," Tinsley said during our 25th anniversary interview in 2003. "My mom is just the epitome of class, brilliance, grace, elegance and support."
Tinsley might well experience another milestone this month.
Fox4's 10 p.m. newscast, long without any potent lead-ins from high-powered network entertainment programming at rival D-FW stations, looks as though it's finally going to vault over NBC5 and into third place among advertiser-courted 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. Second-place CBS11 also is within reach if everything breaks right.
Whatever happens, Tinsley obviously is a survivor and at this point, a homebody. KDFW was riding high with CBS' Dallas when she first arrived at KDFW. Now she's a Fox4 fixture for however long that lasts.
"I like being someone who has the balance of a really demanding career but also a home life, family and friends," she said five years ago as a 49-year-old kid. "I've never wanted to live out of a suitcase or be a person who's going from one place to another. Things can look really great. And then they can just go to heck in a handbasket in a heartbeat."
Congratulations, Clarice. Here's a segment from Fox4's CT 25: A Silver Celebration, where her hairstyles ranged far and wide:
And babies make four -- an update on CBS11 reporter Bennett Cunningham, partner Michael Spann and their return to D-FW with two new babies on board
11/14/08 10:54 AM
By ED BARK
CBS11 investigative reporter Bennett Cunningham and his partner, Michael Spann, are newly back in D-FW with new arrivals Liliana Elizabeth and Gregory Adam, who were born in Hartford, Conn. on Oct. 10th via gestational surgery.
Liliana is still recovering from a life-threatening infection of her intestines -- Necrotizing Enterocolitis -- that causes inflammation, interior abdominal damage and tissue death.
"We spent four weeks in a very small hotel room in Hartford, and spent every waking hour in the neo-natal intensive care unit with Liliana, hoping that she would get better," Cunningham said in an email. "She couldn't have any food by mouth for 10 days. It was heartbreaking. But now she's home in Dallas and under a doctor's care, and seems to be doing very well."
Liliana and Gregory were birthed after a 34-week gestation period in a surrogate mother's womb.
"I read some of the comments" on a previous posting in these spaces, Cunningham said. "Just to clarify, this was not an adoption. Michael's sperm was used to fertilize one egg and mine the other. So we are the biological and legal fathers of both kids under Connecticut law."
Cunningham returned to CBS11 part-time this week to work on several stories that had been nearly completed before he went to Hartford. One of them, on fuel-inefficient vehicles being used by some elected officials and law enforcement agencies, aired during the station's Monday 10 p.m. newscast.
"It's not easy with two newborns, he said. "But although the station told me not to worry about work, I felt compelled to finish the stories. It was my choice. So CBS was incredibly nice enough to work out a modified schedule that allows me to get the stories done and also spend a lot of time with the children."
Cunningham praised CBS11 president/general manager Steve Mauldin and news director Scott Diener for being "extraordinarily progressive, sensitive and flexible when it comes to helping us start a family. It really is something that most news directors would not be happy with -- but not mine. Both he and the GM have bent over backwards. And we are so grateful."
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Nov. 13)
11/14/08 09:38 AM
By ED BARK
Ratings aren't nearly what they used to be for NBC's ER, which in its prime gave NBC5's 10 p.m. newscast bounteous lead-in audiences that all but offset any shortfalls during the rest of the week.
A glimmer of that old ratings magic returned Thursday when Anthony Edwards' Dr. Mark Greene dropped in for a few flashback scenes as part of the series' 15th and final season. His appearance boosted ER to a 9 p.m. win among Nielsen's two demographic darlings, 18-to-49-year-olds and 25-to-54-year-olds. They're respectively the main target audiences for entertainment and news programming.
NBC5's now free-falling 10 p.m. newscast crashed to last place anyway in the nightly head-to-head battle with Fox4, WFAA8 and CBS11. And it improved only slightly in the total viewers Nielsens, where ER ran a very close second from 9:45 to 10 p.m. behind CBS' new Eleventh Hour crime drama.
Let's take a closer look at how times have changed:
9:45 to 10 P.M. LEAD-IN (25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS)
ER (NBC) -- 112,306
Eleventh Hour (CBS) -- 106,236
Life on Mars (ABC) -- 88,024
Fox4 9 p.m. Local News -- 69,805
10 P.M. NEWSCASTS
WFAA8 -- 112,306
CBS11 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 66,777
NBC5 -- 60,706
9:45 to 10 P.M. LEAD-IN (TOTAL VIEWERS)
Eleventh Hour (CBS) -- 205,933
ER (NBC) -- 199,290
Life on Mars (ABC) -- 192,647
Fox4 9 p.m. Local News -- 126,217
10 P.M. NEWSCASTS
WFAA8 -- 259,077
CBS11 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 139,503
Fox4 -- 112,931
These numbers are pretty typical of the way the races have gone for the first 10 days of the November sweeps (see above post), which now have nine weekdays remaining. And unless NBC5 jet-propels its 25-to-54 numbers, it's going to finish fourth at 10 p.m. for the first time since Fox bought the then CBS-owned KDFW-TV in 1995.
Two years ago, in final results for the November 2006 sweeps, NBC5 topped the 10 p.m. field in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, with Fox4 a very distant last in both measurements.
In the February 2007 sweeps, WFAA8 ended NBC5's five-year run at the top in total viewers. And in the May sweeps of that year, WFAA8 took the 25-to-54-year-old ratings crown, too. It's been comfortably in first place at 10 p.m. ever since.
Elsewhere in prime-time Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks' latest loss, on the road to the Chicago Bulls, drew 93,002 viewers on TXA21. Over on cable's NFL Network, the New York Jets' overtime win against the New England Patriots also averaged 93,002 viewers in a limited number of D-FW homes able to get it.
ABC's Grey's Anatomy drew Thursday's biggest crowd, with 305,578 viewers at 8 p.m. opposite CBS' likewise potent CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (279,006 viewers).
Elsewhere in local news derby results, WFAA8 swept the 5 and 6 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 won in total viewers, and tied for first place with WFAA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Ratings aren't nearly what they used to be for NBC's ER, which in its prime gave NBC5's 10 p.m. newscast bounteous lead-in audiences that all but offset any shortfalls during the rest of the week.
A glimmer of that old ratings magic returned Thursday when Anthony Edwards' Dr. Mark Greene dropped in for a few flashback scenes as part of the series' 15th and final season. His appearance boosted ER to a 9 p.m. win among Nielsen's two demographic darlings, 18-to-49-year-olds and 25-to-54-year-olds. They're respectively the main target audiences for entertainment and news programming.
NBC5's now free-falling 10 p.m. newscast crashed to last place anyway in the nightly head-to-head battle with Fox4, WFAA8 and CBS11. And it improved only slightly in the total viewers Nielsens, where ER ran a very close second from 9:45 to 10 p.m. behind CBS' new Eleventh Hour crime drama.
Let's take a closer look at how times have changed:
9:45 to 10 P.M. LEAD-IN (25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS)
ER (NBC) -- 112,306
Eleventh Hour (CBS) -- 106,236
Life on Mars (ABC) -- 88,024
Fox4 9 p.m. Local News -- 69,805
10 P.M. NEWSCASTS
WFAA8 -- 112,306
CBS11 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 66,777
NBC5 -- 60,706
9:45 to 10 P.M. LEAD-IN (TOTAL VIEWERS)
Eleventh Hour (CBS) -- 205,933
ER (NBC) -- 199,290
Life on Mars (ABC) -- 192,647
Fox4 9 p.m. Local News -- 126,217
10 P.M. NEWSCASTS
WFAA8 -- 259,077
CBS11 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 139,503
Fox4 -- 112,931
These numbers are pretty typical of the way the races have gone for the first 10 days of the November sweeps (see above post), which now have nine weekdays remaining. And unless NBC5 jet-propels its 25-to-54 numbers, it's going to finish fourth at 10 p.m. for the first time since Fox bought the then CBS-owned KDFW-TV in 1995.
Two years ago, in final results for the November 2006 sweeps, NBC5 topped the 10 p.m. field in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, with Fox4 a very distant last in both measurements.
In the February 2007 sweeps, WFAA8 ended NBC5's five-year run at the top in total viewers. And in the May sweeps of that year, WFAA8 took the 25-to-54-year-old ratings crown, too. It's been comfortably in first place at 10 p.m. ever since.
Elsewhere in prime-time Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks' latest loss, on the road to the Chicago Bulls, drew 93,002 viewers on TXA21. Over on cable's NFL Network, the New York Jets' overtime win against the New England Patriots also averaged 93,002 viewers in a limited number of D-FW homes able to get it.
ABC's Grey's Anatomy drew Thursday's biggest crowd, with 305,578 viewers at 8 p.m. opposite CBS' likewise potent CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (279,006 viewers).
Elsewhere in local news derby results, WFAA8 swept the 5 and 6 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 won in total viewers, and tied for first place with WFAA8 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Nov. 12)
11/13/08 10:01 AM
By ED BARK
D-FW viewers said howdy in a big way Wednesday night to ABC's three-hour Country Music Association Awards.
The cowboy-hatted wing-ding, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, averaged 398,580 total viewers from 7 to 10 p.m. Only CBS' crime duo of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY came close, respectively drawing 332,150 and 298,935 viewers from 8 to 10 p.m.
While the CMAs got the ring, NBC's prime-time lineup got the finger. Knight Rider sputtered at 7 p.m. with 79,716 viewers, followed by Life (106,288) and Law & Order (119,574). But Wednesday's least-watched prime-time attraction was Fox's House repeat, which piddled in with just 59,787 viewers locally.
The CMAs likewise ran the prime-time table among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, averaging 175,025 viewers in this age group.
Wednesday also brought the 20-weekday November "sweeps" ratings competition to its halfway point. And the 10-day local newscast averages are very interesting.
As noted numerous times, WFAA8 has dominated the 6 and 10 p.m. news wars, and will run up big scores in both time periods before D-FW's four major TV news providers cross the finish line on the night before Thanksgiving. But the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. races remain very much alive, as does the possibility that NBC5 could plummet to fourth place at 10 p.m. behind Fox4. That would be a first.
First let's look at 10 p.m. CBS11 has a solid hold on second place in total viewers, but is in a war with Fox4 for the runnerup spot among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 10 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 292,292
CBS11 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 152,789
Fox4 -- 146,146
10 P.M, 25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 142,659
CBS11 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 94,094
NBC5 -- 72,847
At 6 a.m., Fox4 clearly is in the driver's seat in the total viewers race, but has less breathing room among 25-to-54-year-olds, where WFAA8 and NBC5 currently are tied for second place.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 6 A.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 152,789
NBC5 -- 106,288
WFAA8 -- 93,002
CBS11 -- 53,144
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 84,988
NBC5 and WFAA8 -- 69,812 apiece
CBS11 -- 33,388
At 5 p.m., WFAA8 has an unbroken string of first place finishes dating to the late 1980s. It still holds the top spot at the halfway mark, but Fox4 and NBC5 remain within striking distance in both of the major ratings measurements.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 5 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 139,503
NBC5 -- 119,574
Fox4 -- 112,931
CBS11 -- 66,430
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 66,777
Fox4 -- 54,635
NBC5 -- 45,530
CBS11 -- 24,282
The 6 p.m. race belongs to WFAA8, but it's currently a three-way battle for second place.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 6 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 126,217
CBS11 -- 112,931
Fox4 -- 106,288
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 51,600
NBC5 -- 48,565
CBS11 -- 39,459
In Wednesday's Nielsen ratings results, WFAA8 again had no trouble running away with the 6 and 10 p.m. newscast competitions.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 won comfortably in total viewers, but was edged by WFAA8 for the 25-to-54 gold.
NBC5 took all the marbles at 5 p.m. as the competitions rolled into the second half of play.
D-FW viewers said howdy in a big way Wednesday night to ABC's three-hour Country Music Association Awards.
The cowboy-hatted wing-ding, hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, averaged 398,580 total viewers from 7 to 10 p.m. Only CBS' crime duo of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY came close, respectively drawing 332,150 and 298,935 viewers from 8 to 10 p.m.
While the CMAs got the ring, NBC's prime-time lineup got the finger. Knight Rider sputtered at 7 p.m. with 79,716 viewers, followed by Life (106,288) and Law & Order (119,574). But Wednesday's least-watched prime-time attraction was Fox's House repeat, which piddled in with just 59,787 viewers locally.
The CMAs likewise ran the prime-time table among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds, averaging 175,025 viewers in this age group.
Wednesday also brought the 20-weekday November "sweeps" ratings competition to its halfway point. And the 10-day local newscast averages are very interesting.
As noted numerous times, WFAA8 has dominated the 6 and 10 p.m. news wars, and will run up big scores in both time periods before D-FW's four major TV news providers cross the finish line on the night before Thanksgiving. But the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. races remain very much alive, as does the possibility that NBC5 could plummet to fourth place at 10 p.m. behind Fox4. That would be a first.
First let's look at 10 p.m. CBS11 has a solid hold on second place in total viewers, but is in a war with Fox4 for the runnerup spot among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 10 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 292,292
CBS11 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 152,789
Fox4 -- 146,146
10 P.M, 25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 142,659
CBS11 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 94,094
NBC5 -- 72,847
At 6 a.m., Fox4 clearly is in the driver's seat in the total viewers race, but has less breathing room among 25-to-54-year-olds, where WFAA8 and NBC5 currently are tied for second place.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 6 A.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 152,789
NBC5 -- 106,288
WFAA8 -- 93,002
CBS11 -- 53,144
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 84,988
NBC5 and WFAA8 -- 69,812 apiece
CBS11 -- 33,388
At 5 p.m., WFAA8 has an unbroken string of first place finishes dating to the late 1980s. It still holds the top spot at the halfway mark, but Fox4 and NBC5 remain within striking distance in both of the major ratings measurements.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 5 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 139,503
NBC5 -- 119,574
Fox4 -- 112,931
CBS11 -- 66,430
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 66,777
Fox4 -- 54,635
NBC5 -- 45,530
CBS11 -- 24,282
The 6 p.m. race belongs to WFAA8, but it's currently a three-way battle for second place.
10-DAY NOVEMBER SWEEPS AVERAGES -- 6 P.M. TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 -- 219,219
NBC5 -- 126,217
CBS11 -- 112,931
Fox4 -- 106,288
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 97,130
Fox4 -- 51,600
NBC5 -- 48,565
CBS11 -- 39,459
In Wednesday's Nielsen ratings results, WFAA8 again had no trouble running away with the 6 and 10 p.m. newscast competitions.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 won comfortably in total viewers, but was edged by WFAA8 for the 25-to-54 gold.
NBC5 took all the marbles at 5 p.m. as the competitions rolled into the second half of play.
Spot check: One night in the lives of your latenight local newscasts (Mon., Nov. 10)
11/12/08 12:15 PM
By ED BARK
Consider this the equivalent of random drug testing.
Because life is just too short -- and the brain can only take so much -- we're going to be much more selective in our looks at the weekday late night newscasts on Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11.
Unclebarky.com's new "Spot Check" feature will be activated throughout the year, not just during the traditional ratings "sweeps" months of November, February (March next year because of the big digital conversion) and May.
Station management types are always saying that they throw everything into every newscast on a year-round basis. That's not entirely true, of course, but it does provide an opening to evaluate them when they might least expect it.
Ergo, These "Spot Checks" mostly will continue the old practice of watching all four of the aforementioned newscasts in their entirety. But they could include newscasts at earlier hours. And sometimes just one newscast will be spotlighted. Whatever feels right, with a tentative plan to do this at least twice a month -- or maybe more.
Big breaking news events will dictate some of this, but we'll also pick out comparatively "ordinary" days in which stations are challenged to either come up with more of their own enterprise reporting -- or simply punt to a pre-canned stories from their network or an affiliated station.
We'll begin with Monday, Nov. 10th, the first week in a long time without an ongoing presidential campaign. It was, of course, a very rainy night, so all four stations began on that note and then milked it as much as possible.
Fox4 reporters Becky Oliver and Dionne
Anglin
FOX4 (featured 9 p.m. newscast)
ANCHORS -- Steve Eagar, Heather Hays (news), Dan Henry (weather), Mike Doocy (sports)
NEWS REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Becky Oliver, Dionne Anglin, James Rose, Sophia Reza
Splish splash -- Weatherman Dan Henry set the stage with the usual up-close looks at angry-looking maps before anchor Steve Eagar turned it over to "Street Squad" reporter James Rose with this disclaimer: "Our coverage gets a little complicated because we can't raise our masts on top of our 'live' trucks and it gets difficult to cover it."
The station then presented live video shot through a moving vehicle's rain-blurred windshield before Rose popped in via cell phone from a gas station off of I-30 in Fort Worth.
A few motorists had pulled over during heavy rain, but Rose otherwise had a tough time making this sound like much more than a much-needed downpour.
"It hasn't rained in a while . . . It just makes it all the more sinister when it gets dark outside. Some people are playing it safe safe, Steve," he concluded.
In other words, Noah's Ark remained docked.
Some friendly advice to Eagar about his anchor suits -- On Monday night he wore a brown, vested, wide-striped ensemble that made WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen look like Yves St. Laurent but still fell well short of 10 p.m. co-anchor Baron James' usual circus attire.
Really wide stripes are hot right now. But cool it because . . . hey, guys, these are going to look like Nehru or leisure suits in pretty short order. And five or so years from now, you're going to want to destroy any evidence that you wore 'em. That's why my bright orange, corduroy sport coat from the 1970s remains on call for Halloween wear only.
Good work -- Reporter Dionne Anglin had what proved to be the night's heart-warmer, about an eight-year-old autistic boy in Grand Prairie whose faithful "service dog," Spot, ran off two weeks earlier while chasing a work van down the street.
This story had a very happy, touching ending Tuesday when the dog was found and returned to his home. You can watch Anglin's followup report here.
Juicy steaks, clinking wine glasses, incriminating chateau-y accordion music, etc. -- Veteran investigator Becky Oliver weighed in as only she can with a lengthy, shout-it-out expose of government officials wasting your tax dollars on fine dining, drinking and plush accommodations.
CBS11 gumshoe Bennett Cunningham (more on him later) has performed this task numerous times, with Michael Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility riding shotgun.
Oliver also relied on Sullivan's indignation, and of course he delivered.
"That's disgusting," he said of the expense accounts filed by some top executives of the Tarrant Regional Water District. "It's the height of immoral. These people have no shame."
Oliver ran into resistance, of course. "It appears," she told viewers, "that someone didn't want us poking around." In fact, she said, the Water District tried to soak Fox4 for $24,000 in return for complete spending records that would take a year to compile, Oliver said.
She and Sullivan instead zoomed in on 14 "top executives," including Water District head Jim Oliver, whom she confronted in a parking lot while he was planning to work out at an area gym.
"How ya doin'?" Becky asked him before boring in. The other Oliver of course looked peeved, but furnished a money shot by telling his inquisitor, "We have checks and balances on all our spending."
"You do?!" she shot back.
Accompanied by the usual damning sound effects and closeups of fine food and drink, Oliver reeled off several heavy-duty expense accounts, including a $1,059.99 tab at a Houston steakhouse that included an inflated tip.
These reports can be valuable, but they've also become almost a dime a dozen during ratings sweeps periods. Oliver's patented, over-the-top indignation is still an irritant. She's been to this particular end zone many times in her long career here. And much of her work has been praised. But for once, how about calmly dropping the ball instead of doing a Terrell Owens-ish TD celebration throughout. We know, we know. You're an avenging angel. No need to come off like a she-devil.
On Monday night, Oliver used Sullivan's words to set up her big in-studio finish. Government officials don't like "some crazy reporter" looking into their questionable expense accounts, he told her. To which Oliver then added, "Call me crazy but most of us have to account for what we spend for work."
Enough said.
NBC5 reporters Randy McIlwain and Susy Solis
NBC5 10 P.M. Newscast
ANCHORS -- Mike Snyder, Jane McGarry (news), David Finfrock (weather), Newy Scruggs (sports)
REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Scott Gordon, Omar Villafranca, Ellen Goldberg, Kevin Cokely, Randy McIlwain, Susy Solis, Matt Barrie
Splish splash -- Weatherman David Finfrock primed the pump before anchor Jane McGarry segued to reporter Scott Gordon riding along in Stormtracker H3. Yes, they actually call it that.
The veteran Night Ranger could only be heard not seen. Here's his take: "In Fort Worth, the skies opened up and the water just kept coming. In Hulen, just south of I-30, a few cars stalled in the high water. Nobody was hurt."
Reporter Omar Villafranca then showed up live outdoors in Carrollton, looking ready to take on water in a hooded rain suit. He briefly noted that it rained where he is, too. McGarry then cued a still picture from a viewer of "rain pouring down." You don't even have to add any dry humor.
Good work -- Street vet Randy McIlwain stood live in the elements on a Plano golf course, wearing a wet weather windbreaker and a cute, light gray homburg for his story on attempts by homeowners to protect their properties with at least 20-foot high net fences.
An aggrieved resident whose home and property have been bombarded with errant golf balls boiled it all down during a public hearing on the matter.
"When they hit your home, they sound like a gunshot," he said. "And if they hit your head, you're dead."
Plano officials of course rejected the homeowners' proposal. That's par for the course, but not McIlwain's fault. As almost always, he had a good little story and holed it out.
Smells like sweeps dung -- NBC5 was up to its tired old tricks with stories on a "sexy suggestion from a North Texas pastor" and a "Beer Crisis" gripping North Texas.
Reporter Susy Solis, who joined the station a year ago, interviewed jaunty Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine. To ease stress during tough economic times, he's challenged married parishioners to have sex daily for seven straight days. Or as Solis put it, "Young says couples need to turn whining into whoopee." Yes, she actually said that.
An older male member of the congregation and a younger guy condensed the issue in typical NBC5 fashion -- sound bites lasting perhaps two seconds.
"Well, there's more to marriage than sex," said one.
"Yeah, I'm takin' the challenge," said the other.
It was then reporter Meredith Land's turn to tell viewers about a "worldwide hops shortage" that has driven up the price of beer at the Flying Saucer brew pub in Fort Worth among others.
A couple of pot-bellied elbow-benders vowed to continue drinking anyway. "It's just gonna damage the pocket book a little bit more," one reasoned before swigging some suds from his hand-held vessel. Put it on NBC5's tab.
WFAA8 anchor John McCaa and reporter Shelly
Slater
WFAA8 10 p.m. news
ANCHORS -- John McCaa, Gloria Campos (news), Pete Delkus (weather), Dale Hansen (sports)
NEWS REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Chris Hawes, Steve Stoler, Jason Whitely, Shelly Slater, Ted Madden
Splish splash -- Co-anchor Gloria Campos told viewers that HD Chopper 8 had captured a "wall cloud" in progress and weatherman Pete Delkus presided over his many-colored maps before reporter Chris Hawes materialized live in Fort Worth holding an umbrella in what had become a drizzle.
She told viewers of "water shooting out of a manhole" and of drivers scooping water out of their vehicles. Reporter Steve Stoler then took over in Frisco, where he was outfitted in a hooded rain suit. And there you have it.
Money for nothing and your chicks for free -- Campos continued with WFAA8's nightly "Stretching Your Dollar" segment, this time telling viewers about four ways to stretch a gallon of now relatively cheap gas. Namely, slow down, use cruise control, avoid idling and stop "aggressive driving." The 30-day savings were estimated at $393.90, bringing the grand total through Monday's newscast to $5,719.90 a month.
Don't know if I believe that.
Spending John McCaa's money -- on a woman's wardrobe -- Co-anchor John McCaa, a very snappy on-air dresser, doesn't wear women's clothing off-camera -- far as we know. But to hammer home the ease with which crooks can commit identity theft, WFAA8 gave his credit credit card to reporter Shelly Slater, who used it for a shopping spree.
"We're of different ages, different races, even different sexes," McCaa told viewers. "You'd think that she would get stopped using my credit card."
But no. Slater first bought some stuff at Wal-Mart. No questions. Then an "entirely new fall wardrobe" at Target. A color printer at Office Max, a $300 mixer from Macy's and "house decor" at Ross.
"Again", she said, "no one questioned the name John McCaa."
McCaa said ruefully at story's end, "Shelly assures me that she is returning all of the items that she bought on my credit card."
"Uh huh," Campos jabbed.
The kicker: Slater's purchases were all legal because she had McCaa's consent to use his credit card, he said.
Why couldn't she have used some of McCaa's money to frivolously buy a big supply of limited edition unclebarky.com T-shirts, which actually exist and at least would make a great gag gift for the annual WFAA8 Christmas party. Or any station's for that matter.
Good Work -- Sports reporter Ted Madden had a fun piece on Arlington-based dude Craig Marquis, who made it to the Final 9 of the World Series of Poker. ESPN televised the pre-taped final on Tuesday night after first paying each of the nine finalists winnings of $900,000 apiece.
For the record, Marquis ended up finishing last in that field. But he still won $900 grand.
CBS11 reporters Bennett Cunningham and Ginger
Allen
CBS11 10 p.m. newscast
ANCHORS -- Doug Dunbar, Karen Borta, Larry Mowry (weather), Babe Laufenberg (sports)
REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Seema Mathur, Carol Cavazos, Stephanie Lucero, Bennett Cunningham, Bud Gillett, Ginger Allen
Splish splash -- Weatherman Larry Mowry set the stage up top before reporters Seema Mathur, Carol Cavazos and, later in the newscast, Stephanie Lucero, braved what elements there were.
A male motorist showed Cavazos how his vehicle became flooded before he ingeniously scooped the water out. She wore a nifty CBS baseball cap for the proceedings. Lucero opted for a dark blue station rainsuit, complete with hood. Nice.
Your tax dollars being pissed away (the sequel) -- Investigator Bennett Cunningham, back in D-FW after an extended leave, had an extended report that became a bit dated during his absence.
But hey, this is the "sweeps," so he dove back into "a dirty little secret in North Texas. Some cities and counties are spending your money on cars and SUVs that suck up your tax dollars and leave a carbon footprint that's choking the environment. And the problem starts at the top."
Way to undersell it.
Basically, the mayors of Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth are driving or being driven in city-authorized vehicles that get lousy gas mileage, Cunningham reported.
He began with Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, whose chariot is a city-issued, gas-guzzling 2006 Ford Expedition. CBS11 cameras caught the thing idling for "nearly 25 minutes" while, as Cunningham put it, Leppert "gets a new hair-do."
Haircut is much more like it. Leppert was shown having his locks trimmed in what very much looked like a small community barber shop, not some pricey North Dallas clip joint. And he should be commended for that, not ridiculed. Whoever's driving him could have shut the motor off, though.
Leppert briefly told Cunningham that he's told by the city what vehicle to use, and that hopefully it soon will be a cost-efficient hybrid.
Arlington mayor Bob Cluck drives his own Cadillac Escalade on city business, and said he won't go to a Ford hybrid because "this is General Motors country." Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief also is ferried in something of a gas guzzler and the Tarrant County Sheriff office's fleet of squad cars has "one of the highest carbon footprints in town," Cunningham said.
He didn't hammer his story home the way Oliver almost always does. But in the end, this didn't amount to a whole lot.
Yes, city officials and law enforcement agencies should make a better effort to comply with TXDot recommendations to use cleaner-burning vehicles that get better gas mileage. That would set a good example. In fact, at the end of his story, Cunningham was back in the studio telling viewers, "Last month the Fort Worth mayor got rid of that Cadillac Escalade for a newer model. This one is a hybrid, which gets 20 miles to the gallon."
In the sweeps, though, you never put the good news up top. You save it until after selling another semi-apocalypse. Because as any reporter knows all too well, that's what makes "good television."
Poor Ginger -- Early morning co-anchor Ginger Allen is still billed as a member of "The Investigators," whose only other CBS11 member is Cunningham. But in reality all she gets to do is introduce and narrate the latest cosmetic fix aimed at sought-after female viewers.
On Monday night, Allen talked about "laser lipo," also known as "lunchtime lipo" because it's quick, easy and probably costly, although the report didn't mention that last part.
CBS11 showed before-and-after pictures of a patient's stomach after she underwent the procedure. The doctor who performed it not surprisingly touted this "excellent procedure for skin tightening."
Somebody really should tighten the screws on this stuff. Allen has a been a capable gumshoe in the past. Either give her a break or let one of the male anchors do this stuff. But the odds on that are longer than the downtrodden Dallas Mavericks going unbeaten for the rest of the season. Or even for the next two weeks.
Consider this the equivalent of random drug testing.
Because life is just too short -- and the brain can only take so much -- we're going to be much more selective in our looks at the weekday late night newscasts on Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11.
Unclebarky.com's new "Spot Check" feature will be activated throughout the year, not just during the traditional ratings "sweeps" months of November, February (March next year because of the big digital conversion) and May.
Station management types are always saying that they throw everything into every newscast on a year-round basis. That's not entirely true, of course, but it does provide an opening to evaluate them when they might least expect it.
Ergo, These "Spot Checks" mostly will continue the old practice of watching all four of the aforementioned newscasts in their entirety. But they could include newscasts at earlier hours. And sometimes just one newscast will be spotlighted. Whatever feels right, with a tentative plan to do this at least twice a month -- or maybe more.
Big breaking news events will dictate some of this, but we'll also pick out comparatively "ordinary" days in which stations are challenged to either come up with more of their own enterprise reporting -- or simply punt to a pre-canned stories from their network or an affiliated station.
We'll begin with Monday, Nov. 10th, the first week in a long time without an ongoing presidential campaign. It was, of course, a very rainy night, so all four stations began on that note and then milked it as much as possible.
FOX4 (featured 9 p.m. newscast)
ANCHORS -- Steve Eagar, Heather Hays (news), Dan Henry (weather), Mike Doocy (sports)
NEWS REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Becky Oliver, Dionne Anglin, James Rose, Sophia Reza
Splish splash -- Weatherman Dan Henry set the stage with the usual up-close looks at angry-looking maps before anchor Steve Eagar turned it over to "Street Squad" reporter James Rose with this disclaimer: "Our coverage gets a little complicated because we can't raise our masts on top of our 'live' trucks and it gets difficult to cover it."
The station then presented live video shot through a moving vehicle's rain-blurred windshield before Rose popped in via cell phone from a gas station off of I-30 in Fort Worth.
A few motorists had pulled over during heavy rain, but Rose otherwise had a tough time making this sound like much more than a much-needed downpour.
"It hasn't rained in a while . . . It just makes it all the more sinister when it gets dark outside. Some people are playing it safe safe, Steve," he concluded.
In other words, Noah's Ark remained docked.
Some friendly advice to Eagar about his anchor suits -- On Monday night he wore a brown, vested, wide-striped ensemble that made WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen look like Yves St. Laurent but still fell well short of 10 p.m. co-anchor Baron James' usual circus attire.
Really wide stripes are hot right now. But cool it because . . . hey, guys, these are going to look like Nehru or leisure suits in pretty short order. And five or so years from now, you're going to want to destroy any evidence that you wore 'em. That's why my bright orange, corduroy sport coat from the 1970s remains on call for Halloween wear only.
Good work -- Reporter Dionne Anglin had what proved to be the night's heart-warmer, about an eight-year-old autistic boy in Grand Prairie whose faithful "service dog," Spot, ran off two weeks earlier while chasing a work van down the street.
This story had a very happy, touching ending Tuesday when the dog was found and returned to his home. You can watch Anglin's followup report here.
Juicy steaks, clinking wine glasses, incriminating chateau-y accordion music, etc. -- Veteran investigator Becky Oliver weighed in as only she can with a lengthy, shout-it-out expose of government officials wasting your tax dollars on fine dining, drinking and plush accommodations.
CBS11 gumshoe Bennett Cunningham (more on him later) has performed this task numerous times, with Michael Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility riding shotgun.
Oliver also relied on Sullivan's indignation, and of course he delivered.
"That's disgusting," he said of the expense accounts filed by some top executives of the Tarrant Regional Water District. "It's the height of immoral. These people have no shame."
Oliver ran into resistance, of course. "It appears," she told viewers, "that someone didn't want us poking around." In fact, she said, the Water District tried to soak Fox4 for $24,000 in return for complete spending records that would take a year to compile, Oliver said.
She and Sullivan instead zoomed in on 14 "top executives," including Water District head Jim Oliver, whom she confronted in a parking lot while he was planning to work out at an area gym.
"How ya doin'?" Becky asked him before boring in. The other Oliver of course looked peeved, but furnished a money shot by telling his inquisitor, "We have checks and balances on all our spending."
"You do?!" she shot back.
Accompanied by the usual damning sound effects and closeups of fine food and drink, Oliver reeled off several heavy-duty expense accounts, including a $1,059.99 tab at a Houston steakhouse that included an inflated tip.
These reports can be valuable, but they've also become almost a dime a dozen during ratings sweeps periods. Oliver's patented, over-the-top indignation is still an irritant. She's been to this particular end zone many times in her long career here. And much of her work has been praised. But for once, how about calmly dropping the ball instead of doing a Terrell Owens-ish TD celebration throughout. We know, we know. You're an avenging angel. No need to come off like a she-devil.
On Monday night, Oliver used Sullivan's words to set up her big in-studio finish. Government officials don't like "some crazy reporter" looking into their questionable expense accounts, he told her. To which Oliver then added, "Call me crazy but most of us have to account for what we spend for work."
Enough said.
NBC5 10 P.M. Newscast
ANCHORS -- Mike Snyder, Jane McGarry (news), David Finfrock (weather), Newy Scruggs (sports)
REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Scott Gordon, Omar Villafranca, Ellen Goldberg, Kevin Cokely, Randy McIlwain, Susy Solis, Matt Barrie
Splish splash -- Weatherman David Finfrock primed the pump before anchor Jane McGarry segued to reporter Scott Gordon riding along in Stormtracker H3. Yes, they actually call it that.
The veteran Night Ranger could only be heard not seen. Here's his take: "In Fort Worth, the skies opened up and the water just kept coming. In Hulen, just south of I-30, a few cars stalled in the high water. Nobody was hurt."
Reporter Omar Villafranca then showed up live outdoors in Carrollton, looking ready to take on water in a hooded rain suit. He briefly noted that it rained where he is, too. McGarry then cued a still picture from a viewer of "rain pouring down." You don't even have to add any dry humor.
Good work -- Street vet Randy McIlwain stood live in the elements on a Plano golf course, wearing a wet weather windbreaker and a cute, light gray homburg for his story on attempts by homeowners to protect their properties with at least 20-foot high net fences.
An aggrieved resident whose home and property have been bombarded with errant golf balls boiled it all down during a public hearing on the matter.
"When they hit your home, they sound like a gunshot," he said. "And if they hit your head, you're dead."
Plano officials of course rejected the homeowners' proposal. That's par for the course, but not McIlwain's fault. As almost always, he had a good little story and holed it out.
Smells like sweeps dung -- NBC5 was up to its tired old tricks with stories on a "sexy suggestion from a North Texas pastor" and a "Beer Crisis" gripping North Texas.
Reporter Susy Solis, who joined the station a year ago, interviewed jaunty Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine. To ease stress during tough economic times, he's challenged married parishioners to have sex daily for seven straight days. Or as Solis put it, "Young says couples need to turn whining into whoopee." Yes, she actually said that.
An older male member of the congregation and a younger guy condensed the issue in typical NBC5 fashion -- sound bites lasting perhaps two seconds.
"Well, there's more to marriage than sex," said one.
"Yeah, I'm takin' the challenge," said the other.
It was then reporter Meredith Land's turn to tell viewers about a "worldwide hops shortage" that has driven up the price of beer at the Flying Saucer brew pub in Fort Worth among others.
A couple of pot-bellied elbow-benders vowed to continue drinking anyway. "It's just gonna damage the pocket book a little bit more," one reasoned before swigging some suds from his hand-held vessel. Put it on NBC5's tab.
WFAA8 10 p.m. news
ANCHORS -- John McCaa, Gloria Campos (news), Pete Delkus (weather), Dale Hansen (sports)
NEWS REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Chris Hawes, Steve Stoler, Jason Whitely, Shelly Slater, Ted Madden
Splish splash -- Co-anchor Gloria Campos told viewers that HD Chopper 8 had captured a "wall cloud" in progress and weatherman Pete Delkus presided over his many-colored maps before reporter Chris Hawes materialized live in Fort Worth holding an umbrella in what had become a drizzle.
She told viewers of "water shooting out of a manhole" and of drivers scooping water out of their vehicles. Reporter Steve Stoler then took over in Frisco, where he was outfitted in a hooded rain suit. And there you have it.
Money for nothing and your chicks for free -- Campos continued with WFAA8's nightly "Stretching Your Dollar" segment, this time telling viewers about four ways to stretch a gallon of now relatively cheap gas. Namely, slow down, use cruise control, avoid idling and stop "aggressive driving." The 30-day savings were estimated at $393.90, bringing the grand total through Monday's newscast to $5,719.90 a month.
Don't know if I believe that.
Spending John McCaa's money -- on a woman's wardrobe -- Co-anchor John McCaa, a very snappy on-air dresser, doesn't wear women's clothing off-camera -- far as we know. But to hammer home the ease with which crooks can commit identity theft, WFAA8 gave his credit credit card to reporter Shelly Slater, who used it for a shopping spree.
"We're of different ages, different races, even different sexes," McCaa told viewers. "You'd think that she would get stopped using my credit card."
But no. Slater first bought some stuff at Wal-Mart. No questions. Then an "entirely new fall wardrobe" at Target. A color printer at Office Max, a $300 mixer from Macy's and "house decor" at Ross.
"Again", she said, "no one questioned the name John McCaa."
McCaa said ruefully at story's end, "Shelly assures me that she is returning all of the items that she bought on my credit card."
"Uh huh," Campos jabbed.
The kicker: Slater's purchases were all legal because she had McCaa's consent to use his credit card, he said.
Why couldn't she have used some of McCaa's money to frivolously buy a big supply of limited edition unclebarky.com T-shirts, which actually exist and at least would make a great gag gift for the annual WFAA8 Christmas party. Or any station's for that matter.
Good Work -- Sports reporter Ted Madden had a fun piece on Arlington-based dude Craig Marquis, who made it to the Final 9 of the World Series of Poker. ESPN televised the pre-taped final on Tuesday night after first paying each of the nine finalists winnings of $900,000 apiece.
For the record, Marquis ended up finishing last in that field. But he still won $900 grand.
CBS11 10 p.m. newscast
ANCHORS -- Doug Dunbar, Karen Borta, Larry Mowry (weather), Babe Laufenberg (sports)
REPORTERS WITH "BYLINES" DURING THIS NEWSCAST -- Seema Mathur, Carol Cavazos, Stephanie Lucero, Bennett Cunningham, Bud Gillett, Ginger Allen
Splish splash -- Weatherman Larry Mowry set the stage up top before reporters Seema Mathur, Carol Cavazos and, later in the newscast, Stephanie Lucero, braved what elements there were.
A male motorist showed Cavazos how his vehicle became flooded before he ingeniously scooped the water out. She wore a nifty CBS baseball cap for the proceedings. Lucero opted for a dark blue station rainsuit, complete with hood. Nice.
Your tax dollars being pissed away (the sequel) -- Investigator Bennett Cunningham, back in D-FW after an extended leave, had an extended report that became a bit dated during his absence.
But hey, this is the "sweeps," so he dove back into "a dirty little secret in North Texas. Some cities and counties are spending your money on cars and SUVs that suck up your tax dollars and leave a carbon footprint that's choking the environment. And the problem starts at the top."
Way to undersell it.
Basically, the mayors of Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth are driving or being driven in city-authorized vehicles that get lousy gas mileage, Cunningham reported.
He began with Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, whose chariot is a city-issued, gas-guzzling 2006 Ford Expedition. CBS11 cameras caught the thing idling for "nearly 25 minutes" while, as Cunningham put it, Leppert "gets a new hair-do."
Haircut is much more like it. Leppert was shown having his locks trimmed in what very much looked like a small community barber shop, not some pricey North Dallas clip joint. And he should be commended for that, not ridiculed. Whoever's driving him could have shut the motor off, though.
Leppert briefly told Cunningham that he's told by the city what vehicle to use, and that hopefully it soon will be a cost-efficient hybrid.
Arlington mayor Bob Cluck drives his own Cadillac Escalade on city business, and said he won't go to a Ford hybrid because "this is General Motors country." Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief also is ferried in something of a gas guzzler and the Tarrant County Sheriff office's fleet of squad cars has "one of the highest carbon footprints in town," Cunningham said.
He didn't hammer his story home the way Oliver almost always does. But in the end, this didn't amount to a whole lot.
Yes, city officials and law enforcement agencies should make a better effort to comply with TXDot recommendations to use cleaner-burning vehicles that get better gas mileage. That would set a good example. In fact, at the end of his story, Cunningham was back in the studio telling viewers, "Last month the Fort Worth mayor got rid of that Cadillac Escalade for a newer model. This one is a hybrid, which gets 20 miles to the gallon."
In the sweeps, though, you never put the good news up top. You save it until after selling another semi-apocalypse. Because as any reporter knows all too well, that's what makes "good television."
Poor Ginger -- Early morning co-anchor Ginger Allen is still billed as a member of "The Investigators," whose only other CBS11 member is Cunningham. But in reality all she gets to do is introduce and narrate the latest cosmetic fix aimed at sought-after female viewers.
On Monday night, Allen talked about "laser lipo," also known as "lunchtime lipo" because it's quick, easy and probably costly, although the report didn't mention that last part.
CBS11 showed before-and-after pictures of a patient's stomach after she underwent the procedure. The doctor who performed it not surprisingly touted this "excellent procedure for skin tightening."
Somebody really should tighten the screws on this stuff. Allen has a been a capable gumshoe in the past. Either give her a break or let one of the male anchors do this stuff. But the odds on that are longer than the downtrodden Dallas Mavericks going unbeaten for the rest of the season. Or even for the next two weeks.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Nov. 11)
11/12/08 10:05 AM
By ED BARK
CBS dominated the Veterans Day prime-time Nielsens, with its military-themed NCIS again showing its stripes with big wins at 7 p.m. in the three major ratings food groups.
The Mark Harmon-led "procedural" crime drama also was Tuesday's most-watched program, topping all comers in total viewers, total homes and even drawing more advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds than anything else during the day or night. Here's the NCIS scorecard in D-FW:
Total Viewers -- 484,939
Total Homes -- 316,230
18-to-49-year-olds -- 158,819
Frankly, that's astounding.
Fox's House, which has been terrific this season, had Tuesday's second biggest haul of 18-to-49-year-olds (126,407) in a 7 p.m. time slot directly opposite NCIS. But House drew just 205,933 total viewers, well less than half of the NCIS total and also trailing ABC's competing Dancing with the Stars recap hour (245,791).
The 8 to 10 p.m. slots were controlled by CBS' new The Mentalist (which beat ABC's competing DWTS results show in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds) and veteran crimebuster Without A Trace, likewise No. 1 at 9 p.m.
Meanwhile on TXA21, the Dallas Mavericks' home court loss to the unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers drew just 112,931 total viewers. The Mavs dipped to 2-5 and Dirk Nowitzki had an awful game after publicly urging his teammates to stop coasting. It's going to be a long season.
In late night, John McCain's first post-election day public appearance, on Jay Leno's NBC Tonight Show, drew 119,574 total viewers from 11 to 11:30 p.m. That took the top spot, edging the second half of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman (99,645 viewers).
Local News Derby
NBC5 continued to struggle at 10 p.m., where its newscast now is hoping to avoid a slide into fourth place behind Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. On Day 8 of the 20-weekday November sweeps, it looked particularly grim for the Peacock. Here's the scorecard in the key 25-to-54 demographic:
WFAA8 -- 115,341 viewers
CBS11 -- 112,306 viewers
Fox4 -- 94,094 viewers
NBC5 -- 42,494 viewers
WFAA8 also won as usual at 10 p.m. in total viewers and total homes, with CBS11 a competitive second in both measurements and NBC5 respectively finishing fourth and and third.
As noted numerous times, though, WFAA8 has this one locked up and also will win comfortably at 6 p.m., where it again ran the table on Tuesday.
Fox4 returned to its winning ways at 6 a.m., sweeping its competitors by comfy margins while WFAA8 ran third behind NBC5 in total viewers, tied the Peacock in total homes and nipped its principal rival for the runnerup spot among 25-to-54-year-olds.
CBS11, which had perked up a bit in recent days, faded to a very distant fourth place in all three 6 a.m. measurements.
The still very competitive 5 p.m. hour, which WFAA8 has controlled since the late 1980s, remained a horse race on Tuesday.
WFAA8 nipped Fox4 by a statistically insignificant hair in total viewers (with a margin of just 1,329 viewers between first and second place), and won more comfortably in the less important total homes measurement. But Fox4 took the 5 p.m. gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, attracting 9,376 more viewers in this age range.
CBS dominated the Veterans Day prime-time Nielsens, with its military-themed NCIS again showing its stripes with big wins at 7 p.m. in the three major ratings food groups.
The Mark Harmon-led "procedural" crime drama also was Tuesday's most-watched program, topping all comers in total viewers, total homes and even drawing more advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds than anything else during the day or night. Here's the NCIS scorecard in D-FW:
Total Viewers -- 484,939
Total Homes -- 316,230
18-to-49-year-olds -- 158,819
Frankly, that's astounding.
Fox's House, which has been terrific this season, had Tuesday's second biggest haul of 18-to-49-year-olds (126,407) in a 7 p.m. time slot directly opposite NCIS. But House drew just 205,933 total viewers, well less than half of the NCIS total and also trailing ABC's competing Dancing with the Stars recap hour (245,791).
The 8 to 10 p.m. slots were controlled by CBS' new The Mentalist (which beat ABC's competing DWTS results show in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds) and veteran crimebuster Without A Trace, likewise No. 1 at 9 p.m.
Meanwhile on TXA21, the Dallas Mavericks' home court loss to the unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers drew just 112,931 total viewers. The Mavs dipped to 2-5 and Dirk Nowitzki had an awful game after publicly urging his teammates to stop coasting. It's going to be a long season.
In late night, John McCain's first post-election day public appearance, on Jay Leno's NBC Tonight Show, drew 119,574 total viewers from 11 to 11:30 p.m. That took the top spot, edging the second half of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman (99,645 viewers).
Local News Derby
NBC5 continued to struggle at 10 p.m., where its newscast now is hoping to avoid a slide into fourth place behind Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. On Day 8 of the 20-weekday November sweeps, it looked particularly grim for the Peacock. Here's the scorecard in the key 25-to-54 demographic:
WFAA8 -- 115,341 viewers
CBS11 -- 112,306 viewers
Fox4 -- 94,094 viewers
NBC5 -- 42,494 viewers
WFAA8 also won as usual at 10 p.m. in total viewers and total homes, with CBS11 a competitive second in both measurements and NBC5 respectively finishing fourth and and third.
As noted numerous times, though, WFAA8 has this one locked up and also will win comfortably at 6 p.m., where it again ran the table on Tuesday.
Fox4 returned to its winning ways at 6 a.m., sweeping its competitors by comfy margins while WFAA8 ran third behind NBC5 in total viewers, tied the Peacock in total homes and nipped its principal rival for the runnerup spot among 25-to-54-year-olds.
CBS11, which had perked up a bit in recent days, faded to a very distant fourth place in all three 6 a.m. measurements.
The still very competitive 5 p.m. hour, which WFAA8 has controlled since the late 1980s, remained a horse race on Tuesday.
WFAA8 nipped Fox4 by a statistically insignificant hair in total viewers (with a margin of just 1,329 viewers between first and second place), and won more comfortably in the less important total homes measurement. But Fox4 took the 5 p.m. gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, attracting 9,376 more viewers in this age range.
Happy happy, Joy joy
11/11/08 01:45 PM
By ED BARK
Deep in the heart of downtown Garland's Zion Gate recording studio, 1121 band members Tracy Kornet and Tommy Hiett, and chief engineer Brance Wages put the finishing touches Tuesday on a Christmas song benefitting the Happy Hill Farm music program.
Lead singer Kornet, who otherwise anchors newscasts for TXA21/CBS11, co-wrote "Around This Time Of Year" with Hiett, 1121's lead guitarist. A group of teenage singers from Happy Hill Farm earlier packed Zion Gate to provide backup vocals.
A $1,000 charitable contribution from Stratos Global Greek Taverna, during the band's appearance at the July 19th Uncle Barky Show, went entirely to Happy Hill Farm's music program. It also inspired the band to take this next step with a Christmas-themed single, Kornet said.
Plans are to release "Around This Time Of Year" before Thanksgiving Day, with downloads available on cbs11tv.com. All proceeds will go to Happy Hill Farm's music program. Zion Gate has donated all studio time to the project.
We'll update you when the single is available for purchase.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Nov. 10)
11/11/08 09:53 AM
By ED BARK
Incoming heavy rain -- or even better an "arctic blast" -- invariably puts viewers in the mood for a weather-heavy local newscast.
Monday again proved fertile, especially for the early evening and late night extravaganzas. WFAA8 did the most singin' in the rain, sweeping the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. competitions with much bigger audience hauls than a week ago. Here's the Monday to Monday Nielsen precipitation at 6 and 10 p.m.:
TOTAL VIEWERS (10 p.m.)
WFAA8 -- 345,436 (up 112,931 from previous Monday)
CBS11 -- 232,505 (up 46,501)
Fox4 -- 146,146 (up 46,501)
NBC5 -- 132,860 (down 73,078)
TOTAL HOMES
WFAA8 -- 251,490 (up 87,150)
CBS11 -- 181,770 (up 30,000)
NBC5 -- 117,030 (down 24,900)
Fox4 -- 114,540 (up 37,350)
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS (main advertiser target audience for news programming)
WFAA8 -- 169,977 (up 60,706)
CBS11 -- 124,447 (up 54,635)
Fox4 -- 97,130 (up 24,283)
NBC5 -- 54,635 (down 54,636)
Note: NBC5 was hurt by an anemic lead-in rating from NBC's preceding My Own Worst Enemy, compared to last week's more watched SNL Presidential Bash. But the final 15 minutes of the Peacock's soon-to-be canceled clinker still had more viewers in all three ratings measurements than Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast close-out.
TOTAL VIEWERS (6 P.M.)
WFAA8 -- 318,864 (up 59,787 from previous Monday)
NBC5 -- 152,789 (up 19,929)
CBS11 -- 146,146 (up 46,501)
Fox4 -- 139,503 (down 6,643)
TOTAL HOMES
WFAA8 -- 241,530 (up 59,760)
Fox4 -- 117,030 (up 12,450)
CBS11 -- 112,050 (up 44,820)
NBC5 -- 99,600 (down 9,960)
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 173,012 (up 63,741)
Fox4 -- 72,847 (up 3,035)
NBC5 -- 66,777 (up 15,177)
CBS11 -- 48,565 (up 24,283)
WFAA8 also swept the 5 p.m. news competition. At 6 a.m., frontrunning Fox4 won in total viewers and tied for first place with WFAA8 in total homes, with NBC5 just a speck behind.
The 25-to-54 ratings race went to WFAA8, which nipped NBC5 in the 6 a.m. faceoff while Fox4 dipped to third.
Monday's most-watched prime-time entertainment program, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, drew 398,580 D-FW homes. But CBS' Two and a Half Men easily topped the field among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with a haul of 204,196.
Incoming heavy rain -- or even better an "arctic blast" -- invariably puts viewers in the mood for a weather-heavy local newscast.
Monday again proved fertile, especially for the early evening and late night extravaganzas. WFAA8 did the most singin' in the rain, sweeping the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. competitions with much bigger audience hauls than a week ago. Here's the Monday to Monday Nielsen precipitation at 6 and 10 p.m.:
TOTAL VIEWERS (10 p.m.)
WFAA8 -- 345,436 (up 112,931 from previous Monday)
CBS11 -- 232,505 (up 46,501)
Fox4 -- 146,146 (up 46,501)
NBC5 -- 132,860 (down 73,078)
TOTAL HOMES
WFAA8 -- 251,490 (up 87,150)
CBS11 -- 181,770 (up 30,000)
NBC5 -- 117,030 (down 24,900)
Fox4 -- 114,540 (up 37,350)
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS (main advertiser target audience for news programming)
WFAA8 -- 169,977 (up 60,706)
CBS11 -- 124,447 (up 54,635)
Fox4 -- 97,130 (up 24,283)
NBC5 -- 54,635 (down 54,636)
Note: NBC5 was hurt by an anemic lead-in rating from NBC's preceding My Own Worst Enemy, compared to last week's more watched SNL Presidential Bash. But the final 15 minutes of the Peacock's soon-to-be canceled clinker still had more viewers in all three ratings measurements than Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast close-out.
TOTAL VIEWERS (6 P.M.)
WFAA8 -- 318,864 (up 59,787 from previous Monday)
NBC5 -- 152,789 (up 19,929)
CBS11 -- 146,146 (up 46,501)
Fox4 -- 139,503 (down 6,643)
TOTAL HOMES
WFAA8 -- 241,530 (up 59,760)
Fox4 -- 117,030 (up 12,450)
CBS11 -- 112,050 (up 44,820)
NBC5 -- 99,600 (down 9,960)
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
WFAA8 -- 173,012 (up 63,741)
Fox4 -- 72,847 (up 3,035)
NBC5 -- 66,777 (up 15,177)
CBS11 -- 48,565 (up 24,283)
WFAA8 also swept the 5 p.m. news competition. At 6 a.m., frontrunning Fox4 won in total viewers and tied for first place with WFAA8 in total homes, with NBC5 just a speck behind.
The 25-to-54 ratings race went to WFAA8, which nipped NBC5 in the 6 a.m. faceoff while Fox4 dipped to third.
Monday's most-watched prime-time entertainment program, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, drew 398,580 D-FW homes. But CBS' Two and a Half Men easily topped the field among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with a haul of 204,196.
It's a wrap for another very fine Dallas Video Festival
11/10/08 12:20 PM
The 21st annual Dallas Video Festival is history after a wealth of weekend attractions at the Angelika.
Your friendly content provider attended a Saturday afternoon screening of Stefan Forbes' Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, an 88-minute film on the life and times of the hell-on-wheels GOP image-maker best known for being George H.W. Bush's attack dog during the 1988 presidential campaign.
It's a terrific, full-bodied documentary that can be purchased for $22.98, plus shipping and handling, via the filmmaker's official web site.
Video Festival founder Bart Weiss later posed (above) with the ultimate prize -- an official, limited edition unclebarky.com T-shirt. They're also available -- but in very limited supply -- for $20 apiece, including shipping.
If perchance you want one -- either out of support for unclebarky.com or to use for target practice -- email me here and I'll get back to you with more details.
Ed Bark
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Nov. 7-9)
11/10/08 11:13 AM
By ED BARK
No. 2 ranked Texas Tech, again on ABC's national stage, roped in Saturday's biggest crowd for its home field rout of Oklahoma State.
The prime-time telecast, on WFAA8 locally, drew a symmetrical 438,438 total viewers in D-FW opposite mostly repeats on rival broadcast networks.
That was the second biggest football audience on a Cowboys-free weekend. Sunday night's pro matchup between the Giants and Eagles averaged 465,010 D-FW viewers on NBC5.
WFAA8 and Fox4 again did most of the scoring in Friday's local news derby -- Day 7 of the 20-weekday November sweeps.
WFAA8 remained in cruise control at 6 and 10 p.m., taking the top spots in total viewers, total homes and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 continued to pad its growing lead at 6 a.m., stunning NBC5 and WFAA8 in what all three stations expected to be a very close race that's instead been a rout so far. Fox 4 again ran the table in all three ratings measurements Friday while WFAA8 logged another trio of third-place finishes behind runnerup NBC5.
At 5 p.m., WFAA8 narrowly topped the field in total viewers and homes while NBC5 edged into first place with 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for second place in that key audience demographic.
No. 2 ranked Texas Tech, again on ABC's national stage, roped in Saturday's biggest crowd for its home field rout of Oklahoma State.
The prime-time telecast, on WFAA8 locally, drew a symmetrical 438,438 total viewers in D-FW opposite mostly repeats on rival broadcast networks.
That was the second biggest football audience on a Cowboys-free weekend. Sunday night's pro matchup between the Giants and Eagles averaged 465,010 D-FW viewers on NBC5.
WFAA8 and Fox4 again did most of the scoring in Friday's local news derby -- Day 7 of the 20-weekday November sweeps.
WFAA8 remained in cruise control at 6 and 10 p.m., taking the top spots in total viewers, total homes and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 continued to pad its growing lead at 6 a.m., stunning NBC5 and WFAA8 in what all three stations expected to be a very close race that's instead been a rout so far. Fox 4 again ran the table in all three ratings measurements Friday while WFAA8 logged another trio of third-place finishes behind runnerup NBC5.
At 5 p.m., WFAA8 narrowly topped the field in total viewers and homes while NBC5 edged into first place with 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for second place in that key audience demographic.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Nov. 6)
11/07/08 02:14 PM
By ED BARK
You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you get slaughtered.
My hope -- and prediction -- of a substantial ratings "bump" (on a national level at least) for Thursday's Oprah-fueled 30 Rock episode came and went without any discernible evidence that it helped or hurt one of television's very best and brightest comedies.
In Thursday's "fast national" Nielsen ratings, which don't cover the entire country but usually are very reliable, 30 Rock drew 8 million viewers and an as yet undetermined number of advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Last Thursday's third-season premiere of 30 Rock, its most-watched episode ever, officially hauled in 8.7 million total viewers and 5.5 million in the 18-to-49 age range.
So it was basically a wash nationally, with no likely improvement but at least no drastic decline from early indications. Downtrodden NBC isn't about to have a panic attack just yet, although the network's overall prime-time ratings are so basically poor that it would be hard to tell anymore. Virtually every day's a kick in the head, except for when the Peacock's Sunday Night Football kicks off.
In D-FW, 30 Rock actually showed a few more vital signs, at least improving from a coma to perhaps critical condition. As usual, it went against fearsome competition from CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Here are the 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock Nielsens from this week and last:
Thursday, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6
Total Viewers
59,787 and 126,217
18 to 49-Year-Olds
45,377 to 55,100
That said, 30 Rock still drew fewer viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds with its Liz Lemon/Oprah-as-herself episode than any of NBC's three preceding comedies, even including the stinkin' new Kath & Kim. Not that any of them do all that well in D-FW.
30 Rock obviously is watched in many other ways than on-old school living room TV sets. Still, you've got to do some business on the appointed night and hour.
NBC otherwise has a two-time, Emmy-winning gem, and for now that's still enough in the year of the Peacock's decision to jump-start Knight Rider again with a new and possibly even dumber version.
CSI and Grey's Anatomy once more duked it out in Thursday's main event. And it again was a helluva fight.
The two ratings heavyweights tied in total D-FW viewers, with 365,365 apiece. But Grey's Anatomy edged CSI in total homes and pretty much scored a knockout among 18-to-49-year-olds -- 181,507 to 145,854.
Their followup acts had a pretty decent fight, too.
CBS' new Eleventh Hour again prevailed over ABC's new Life On Mars in both total viewers (270,006 to 245,791) and 18-to-49-year-olds (123,166 to 100,477).
NBC's ER once more rolled in third at 9 p.m. in both ratings measurements.
WFAA8's daily presentation of the syndicated Oprah Winfrey Show opened with a brief live interview of Fey from her show's Manhattan studios before welcoming featured guest Will Smith. It didn't seem to help a bit in the battle to grease the skids for D-FW's four-way local newscast battle at 5 p.m.
As lead-ins go, Oprah has become more of a follower in the past year's ratings races with NBC5's local newscast, Fox4's double dose of Judge Judy and CBS11's homegrown 4 p.m. newscast and the syndicated Inside Edition.
Let's look quickly at the 4:30 to 5 p.m. slot, which feeds directly into those newscasts:
Total Viewers
Judge Judy (Fox4)-- 119,574
Inside Edition (CBS11) -- 86,359
Oprah (WFAA8) and the second half-hour of NBC5's First At Four news -- 79,716 apiece
Among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming, the bunched-up order of finish went like this:
Judge Judy -- 63,741
Oprah -- 42,494
Inside Edition -- 39,459
First At Four -- 33,388
Local News Derby
WFAA8's 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts ran the table as usual in total homes, total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds. Then, as almost always, it gets interesting in the other two battlegrounds.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 continued its blazing start with comfortable wins in all three major ratings food groups. WFAA8, in increasingly serious trouble (as reported in the "Snapshot" just below), dipped to distant third-place finishes across the board.
Its shrinking margins over longtime doormat CBS11-- at least on Day 6 of the 20-weekday November sweeps -- might be prompting something of a red alert over at WFAA8. Here's the two-station scorecard:
Total Viewers
WFAA8 -- 86,359
CBS11 -- 59,787
Total Homes
WFAA8 -- 69,720
CBS11 -- 59,760
25-to-54-Year-Olds
WFAA8 -- 60,706
CBS11 -- 42,494
In the 5 p.m. festivities, it also remains a close three-way race among Fox4, NBC5 and WFAA8.
Thursday's Nielsens showed Fox4 precariously on top in all three ratings yardsticks. We'll take a more detailed look at this race in a few days or so, probably at the 10-day mark.
You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you get slaughtered.
My hope -- and prediction -- of a substantial ratings "bump" (on a national level at least) for Thursday's Oprah-fueled 30 Rock episode came and went without any discernible evidence that it helped or hurt one of television's very best and brightest comedies.
In Thursday's "fast national" Nielsen ratings, which don't cover the entire country but usually are very reliable, 30 Rock drew 8 million viewers and an as yet undetermined number of advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.
Last Thursday's third-season premiere of 30 Rock, its most-watched episode ever, officially hauled in 8.7 million total viewers and 5.5 million in the 18-to-49 age range.
So it was basically a wash nationally, with no likely improvement but at least no drastic decline from early indications. Downtrodden NBC isn't about to have a panic attack just yet, although the network's overall prime-time ratings are so basically poor that it would be hard to tell anymore. Virtually every day's a kick in the head, except for when the Peacock's Sunday Night Football kicks off.
In D-FW, 30 Rock actually showed a few more vital signs, at least improving from a coma to perhaps critical condition. As usual, it went against fearsome competition from CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Here are the 8:30 p.m. 30 Rock Nielsens from this week and last:
Thursday, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6
Total Viewers
59,787 and 126,217
18 to 49-Year-Olds
45,377 to 55,100
That said, 30 Rock still drew fewer viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds with its Liz Lemon/Oprah-as-herself episode than any of NBC's three preceding comedies, even including the stinkin' new Kath & Kim. Not that any of them do all that well in D-FW.
30 Rock obviously is watched in many other ways than on-old school living room TV sets. Still, you've got to do some business on the appointed night and hour.
NBC otherwise has a two-time, Emmy-winning gem, and for now that's still enough in the year of the Peacock's decision to jump-start Knight Rider again with a new and possibly even dumber version.
CSI and Grey's Anatomy once more duked it out in Thursday's main event. And it again was a helluva fight.
The two ratings heavyweights tied in total D-FW viewers, with 365,365 apiece. But Grey's Anatomy edged CSI in total homes and pretty much scored a knockout among 18-to-49-year-olds -- 181,507 to 145,854.
Their followup acts had a pretty decent fight, too.
CBS' new Eleventh Hour again prevailed over ABC's new Life On Mars in both total viewers (270,006 to 245,791) and 18-to-49-year-olds (123,166 to 100,477).
NBC's ER once more rolled in third at 9 p.m. in both ratings measurements.
WFAA8's daily presentation of the syndicated Oprah Winfrey Show opened with a brief live interview of Fey from her show's Manhattan studios before welcoming featured guest Will Smith. It didn't seem to help a bit in the battle to grease the skids for D-FW's four-way local newscast battle at 5 p.m.
As lead-ins go, Oprah has become more of a follower in the past year's ratings races with NBC5's local newscast, Fox4's double dose of Judge Judy and CBS11's homegrown 4 p.m. newscast and the syndicated Inside Edition.
Let's look quickly at the 4:30 to 5 p.m. slot, which feeds directly into those newscasts:
Total Viewers
Judge Judy (Fox4)-- 119,574
Inside Edition (CBS11) -- 86,359
Oprah (WFAA8) and the second half-hour of NBC5's First At Four news -- 79,716 apiece
Among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming, the bunched-up order of finish went like this:
Judge Judy -- 63,741
Oprah -- 42,494
Inside Edition -- 39,459
First At Four -- 33,388
Local News Derby
WFAA8's 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts ran the table as usual in total homes, total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds. Then, as almost always, it gets interesting in the other two battlegrounds.
At 6 a.m., Fox4 continued its blazing start with comfortable wins in all three major ratings food groups. WFAA8, in increasingly serious trouble (as reported in the "Snapshot" just below), dipped to distant third-place finishes across the board.
Its shrinking margins over longtime doormat CBS11-- at least on Day 6 of the 20-weekday November sweeps -- might be prompting something of a red alert over at WFAA8. Here's the two-station scorecard:
Total Viewers
WFAA8 -- 86,359
CBS11 -- 59,787
Total Homes
WFAA8 -- 69,720
CBS11 -- 59,760
25-to-54-Year-Olds
WFAA8 -- 60,706
CBS11 -- 42,494
In the 5 p.m. festivities, it also remains a close three-way race among Fox4, NBC5 and WFAA8.
Thursday's Nielsens showed Fox4 precariously on top in all three ratings yardsticks. We'll take a more detailed look at this race in a few days or so, probably at the 10-day mark.
Rebecca Aguilar returns to election-night street reporting via a new D-FW venue
11/07/08 10:04 AM
Rebecca Aguilar returned to D-FW
street reporting on election night. And as the "old
media" gradually gives way to the new, her venue
spoke volumes.
D-FW's big four television news providers -- Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11-- increasingly aren't the only shows in town. Not only that, they've all been significantly downsized in the past year or two. So the field is wide open for small but increasingly influential voices, including unclebarky.com, dare it be said.
Aguilar's election night employer was Latinalista.net. Suspended just over a year ago by Fox4 and officially dismissed on May 8th, she reported from outside the Dallas County Democratic Party's party site in the Bishop Arts district. Aguilar said she was contacted on election eve by Marisa Trevino, founder and publisher of Latina Lista.
"Marisa wanted to do a live webcast on Tuesday night, and I was her special correspondent," Aguilar said in an email to unclebarky.com. "It was great. I guess after more than a year, it's easy jumping back on the bike. Ha! The web is my friend. Ha!"
Four of her video interviews, each lasting between three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half minutes, are posted on the Latina Lista website. The one below is with small businessman Jorge Alvarez. Take a look.
Latina Lista 02 from Doce Productions on Vimeo.
D-FW's big four television news providers -- Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11-- increasingly aren't the only shows in town. Not only that, they've all been significantly downsized in the past year or two. So the field is wide open for small but increasingly influential voices, including unclebarky.com, dare it be said.
Aguilar's election night employer was Latinalista.net. Suspended just over a year ago by Fox4 and officially dismissed on May 8th, she reported from outside the Dallas County Democratic Party's party site in the Bishop Arts district. Aguilar said she was contacted on election eve by Marisa Trevino, founder and publisher of Latina Lista.
"Marisa wanted to do a live webcast on Tuesday night, and I was her special correspondent," Aguilar said in an email to unclebarky.com. "It was great. I guess after more than a year, it's easy jumping back on the bike. Ha! The web is my friend. Ha!"
Four of her video interviews, each lasting between three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half minutes, are posted on the Latina Lista website. The one below is with small businessman Jorge Alvarez. Take a look.
Latina Lista 02 from Doce Productions on Vimeo.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed., Nov. 5)
11/07/08 07:59 AM
By ED BARK
D-FW viewers and the newscasts trying to lure them have completed the first quarter of the big November "sweeps" Super Bowl.
And as one reader astutely noted -- but I keep forgetting -- February won't officially be the next big showdown because of the big digital conversion in the middle of that month. So the next sweeps won't be until March of next year, making this one especially important.
Let's zero in on the early morning combat today, where three of D-FW television's four major news providers have a legitimate shot at finishing first -- or third. It's that close.
After five of the first 20 weekdays -- November's North Texas regional championship game ends on the night before Thanksgiving -- here are the up-to-date results in total viewers, total homes and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
(Note: As explained in detail late last month, we're using total viewers instead of total homes as the key overall measuring stick, but will continue to give you the overall total homes local newscast numbers until November rolls around again.
In very close races, a station sometimes can win in total viewers but run second or third in total homes. Or vice-versa. That's because more than one person often watches a newscast, and Nielsen Media Research's "People Meters" can measure those differences. Ask any station and they'll tell you they'd rather be No. 1 in total viewers than total homes.)
OK, here we go with the five-day 6 a.m. local newscast scorecards:
TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 146,146
NBC5 -- 104,959
WFAA8 -- 82,373
CBS11 -- 49,158
TOTAL HOMES
Fox4 -- 111,054
NBC5 -- 85,158
WFAA8 -- 69,720
CBS11 -- 39,840
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 84,988
NBC5 -- 65,562
WFAA8 -- 63,741
CBS11 -- 29,746
In Wednesday's ratings only, NBC5 won at 6 a.m. in total viewers and tied with Fox4 for first place in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds. That's how close it is. Literally anything can happen in the next 15 weekdays.
Wednesday's other D-FW newscast skirmishes went like this:
WFAA8 as usual dominated at 6 and 10 p.m., winning in all three measurements. Management types in all four newsrooms -- and from afar in New York or elsewhere -- know that those three races are over. The consolation prizes are either second place finishes or a decent year-to-year audience gain.
At 5 p.m., it's still pretty much a three-way race, again among WFAA8, NBC5 and Fox4. In Wednesday's verdicts, WFAA8 narrowly
took first place in total viewers and total homes, but slipped to a close second behind Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
CBS11's 5 and 6 p.m. local newscasts have the misfortune to bookend Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, watched even less in D-FW than in most major markets. And there's nothing CBS11 can do about it, because it's one of the network's owned-and-operated stations. That said, the CBS Evening News, even with Texans Dan Rather and then Bob Schieffer in the saddle, historically has performed well below the national ratings averages in these parts.
On post-presidential election day (Nov. 5) at 5:30 p.m., here's how it looked in D-FW:
Total Viewers
ABC World News with Charles Gibson -- 219,219
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams -- 172,718
Fox4 local newscast -- 99,645
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- 79,716
Total Homes
ABC World News -- 156,870
NBC Nightly News -- 124,500
Fox4 local newscast -- 79,680
CBS Evening News -- 67,230
25-to-54-year-olds
ABC World News -- 91,059
Fox4 local newscast -- 51,600
NBC Nightly News -- 42,494
CBS Evening News -- 33,388
And that's the way it is.
D-FW viewers and the newscasts trying to lure them have completed the first quarter of the big November "sweeps" Super Bowl.
And as one reader astutely noted -- but I keep forgetting -- February won't officially be the next big showdown because of the big digital conversion in the middle of that month. So the next sweeps won't be until March of next year, making this one especially important.
Let's zero in on the early morning combat today, where three of D-FW television's four major news providers have a legitimate shot at finishing first -- or third. It's that close.
After five of the first 20 weekdays -- November's North Texas regional championship game ends on the night before Thanksgiving -- here are the up-to-date results in total viewers, total homes and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
(Note: As explained in detail late last month, we're using total viewers instead of total homes as the key overall measuring stick, but will continue to give you the overall total homes local newscast numbers until November rolls around again.
In very close races, a station sometimes can win in total viewers but run second or third in total homes. Or vice-versa. That's because more than one person often watches a newscast, and Nielsen Media Research's "People Meters" can measure those differences. Ask any station and they'll tell you they'd rather be No. 1 in total viewers than total homes.)
OK, here we go with the five-day 6 a.m. local newscast scorecards:
TOTAL VIEWERS
Fox4 -- 146,146
NBC5 -- 104,959
WFAA8 -- 82,373
CBS11 -- 49,158
TOTAL HOMES
Fox4 -- 111,054
NBC5 -- 85,158
WFAA8 -- 69,720
CBS11 -- 39,840
25-to-54-YEAR-OLDS
Fox4 -- 84,988
NBC5 -- 65,562
WFAA8 -- 63,741
CBS11 -- 29,746
In Wednesday's ratings only, NBC5 won at 6 a.m. in total viewers and tied with Fox4 for first place in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds. That's how close it is. Literally anything can happen in the next 15 weekdays.
Wednesday's other D-FW newscast skirmishes went like this:
WFAA8 as usual dominated at 6 and 10 p.m., winning in all three measurements. Management types in all four newsrooms -- and from afar in New York or elsewhere -- know that those three races are over. The consolation prizes are either second place finishes or a decent year-to-year audience gain.
At 5 p.m., it's still pretty much a three-way race, again among WFAA8, NBC5 and Fox4. In Wednesday's verdicts, WFAA8 narrowly
took first place in total viewers and total homes, but slipped to a close second behind Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
CBS11's 5 and 6 p.m. local newscasts have the misfortune to bookend Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, watched even less in D-FW than in most major markets. And there's nothing CBS11 can do about it, because it's one of the network's owned-and-operated stations. That said, the CBS Evening News, even with Texans Dan Rather and then Bob Schieffer in the saddle, historically has performed well below the national ratings averages in these parts.
On post-presidential election day (Nov. 5) at 5:30 p.m., here's how it looked in D-FW:
Total Viewers
ABC World News with Charles Gibson -- 219,219
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams -- 172,718
Fox4 local newscast -- 99,645
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric -- 79,716
Total Homes
ABC World News -- 156,870
NBC Nightly News -- 124,500
Fox4 local newscast -- 79,680
CBS Evening News -- 67,230
25-to-54-year-olds
ABC World News -- 91,059
Fox4 local newscast -- 51,600
NBC Nightly News -- 42,494
CBS Evening News -- 33,388
And that's the way it is.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues., Nov. 4) -- Election Day edition
11/05/08 12:34 PM
By ED BARK
Wall-to-wall election returns coverage by an array of broadcast and cable networks climaxed at 11:15 p.m. with the final words from president-elect Barack Obama.
It went on, of course, all night long. But we'll concentrate on the hours that really counted in this deluxe recap of how many D-FW viewers watched the action on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.
Note that the Fox network broadcast feed was anchored by Shepard Smith, while Fox News Channel had a separate presentation helmed by Brit Hume. Their election projections of states won by Obama or John McCain were made simultaneously, though.
NBC and MSNBC took the same approach. The mothership's broadcast network feed was anchored by Brian Williams while MSNBC was in the hands of point man David Gregory. Projections also were made simultaneously.
Here are a few other notes of interest before we begin counting. Fox4 pretty much carried the Fox broadcast network feed from 6 to 9 p.m. before going to mostly local coverage from 9 to 10 p.m. during its regular homegrown news hour.
NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 broke to network coverage en masse at 6:30 p.m. and pretty much stayed with it, save for local news cut-ins, until 10 p.m.
The 10 to 11:15 p.m. election coverage in D-FW accented the local races. But all four broadcast stations went to their respective networks to carry the Obama and McCain speeches in their entirety. McCain began at 10:18 p.m. and ended at 10:28 p.m. Obama began at 10:58 p.m. and ended at 11:15 p.m. Our detailed look at the overall coverage is on unclebarky.com's Network News & Reviews page.
Now to the nighttime D-FW ratings for total viewers. For those who still ask and for new readers of this site, WFAA8 and KERA13 are listed that way because they're not owned by their respective networks, ABC and PBS. The three other D-FW broadcast stations listed -- Fox4, NBC5 and CBS11-- are owned by their respective networks.
6 to 7 P.M
TOTAL VIEWERS
WFAA8 (ABC) -- 212,476
NBC5 -- 205,933
CNN -- 199,290
Fox News Channel -- 152,789
Fox4 -- 119,574
CBS11 -- 99,645
MSNBC -- 59,787
KERA13 (PBS) -- 6,643
7 to 10 P.M.
WFAA8 (ABC) -- 292,292
CNN -- 264,163
NBC5 and Fox News Channel -- 252,434 each
Fox4 -- 239,148
CBS11 -- 106,288
MSNBC -- 99,645
KERA13 (PBS) -- 13,286
10 to 10:30 P.M. (McCain's speech ran from 10:18 to 10:28 p.m.)
WFAA8 (ABC) -- 418,509
CNN -- 372,008
NBC5 -- 312,221
Fox News Channel -- 259,077
Fox4 -- 252,434
CBS11 -- 132,860
MSNBC -- 106,288
KERA13 (PBS) -- 16,075
10:30 to 11:15 P.M. -- (Obama's speech ran from 10:58 to 11:15 P.M.)
CNN -- 338,793
WFAA8 (ABC) -- 298,935
NBC5 -- 225,862
Fox4 -- 192,647
MSNBC -- 159,432
Fox News Channel -- 139,503
CBS11 -- 112,931
KERA13 (PBS) -- 19,929
And there you have it.
Local news derby blip
In the only race unaffected by network cut-ins, Fox4 dominated for the third straight day in the 6 a.m. hour. We're now one-fifth of the way through the 20-weekday November "sweeps" ratings period, which ends on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
WFAA8's Shipp, Harris continue to major in major awards
11/04/08 10:59 AM
By ED BARK
Veteran WFAA8 investigative reporters Brett Shipp and Byron Harris now have enough combined Alfred I. duPont-Columbia and George Foster Peabody awards to form an NBA roster. That would be 12.
Shipp won his third and fourth duPonts Tuesday while Harris will receive his fourth. It's the first time in duPont history that a local station has been recognized for three stories in a single year.
Harris, who won a duPont last year, also has a Peabody award in his trophy case. He joined WFAA8 in 1974.
Shipp, who won a Peabody last year, already has three of those. Formerly with KDFW-TV (Channel 4) before Fox bought the station, he joined WFAA8 in 1994.
Harris's latest duPont is for his investigations of the Export-Import Bank, an obscure, taxpayer-funded federal agency. He uncovered an alleged $243 million in "bogus loans."
One of Shipp's two newest duPonts is for a much-publicized and controversial investigation of grade-fixing at South Oak Cliff High School, which eventually had to forfeit its 2006 state basketball title by order of the DISD.
He also won a duPont for a series of reports on Atmos Energy's alleged lax approach to repairing dangerous gas leaks that in the past have caused fatal explosions. In one such case, an elderly couple was killed in their home.
The duPont and Peabody awards are uniformly recognized as the TV news equivalents of the Pulitzer for print journalism and the Oscar for feature films.
No local station in the country has two reporters with this many of them. And it's an almost certain bet that no station ever will.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Mon., Nov. 3)
11/04/08 09:27 AM
By ED BARK
Fox got the short straw in prime-time on election eve while ABC, NBC, CBS and ESPN fought for ratings dominance.
ABC's latest 90-minute Dancing with the Stars dollop drew the most total viewers in D-FW Monday night, waltzing in with 352,079. ESPN's Monday Night Football (with the Steelers beating the Redskins) and NBC's two-hour Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash tied for second with 298,935 viewers apiece.
The battle for advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds put Presidential Bash and CBS' Two and a Half Men on the leader board. Each drew 155,578 viewers in this coveted age range, with Monday Night Football barely behind (149,095 viewers).
Dancing with the Stars threw a hoof and limped in with 106,960 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo, running well behind CBS sitcoms How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory while tying with the network's CSI: Miami.
Fox's action combo of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Prison Break fired blanks all night. Terminator had just 59,787 total viewers; Prison Break hiccuped up to 79,716.
Both Fox dramas ran sixth from 7 to 9 p.m. in both total viewers and with 18-to-49-year-olds. Edging them for the fifth spot was TXA21's telecast of the Dallas Mavericks-Cleveland Cavaliers mismatch. The home team again fell apart in the fourth quarter to lose lopsidedly while home screens brought forth a sea of gray empty seats at the AAC.
LOCAL NEWS DERBY
WFAA8 ran up the score in the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news competitions. The ABC station won at those hours in total viewers, total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. WFAA8 shared the 25-to-54 gold at 10 p.m. with NBC5, which tied for first place.
The early morning numbers told a far different story. On Day 3 of the 20-day November "sweeps" ratings competition, Fox4 again ran away from the field at 6 a.m. with dominating wins in all three ratings measurements..
NBC5 placed second in these three key ratings barometers while WFAA8 found itself in a third-place tie with long-dormant CBS11 in the total viewer Nielsens. The two stations drew 73,073 viewers apiece compared to frontrunning Fox4's 159,432.
WFAA8 edged CBS11 in the total homes and 25-to-54 measurements, in each case running close behind second place NBC5. There's still a long way to go in D-FW's most turbulent local news time slot.
Fox got the short straw in prime-time on election eve while ABC, NBC, CBS and ESPN fought for ratings dominance.
ABC's latest 90-minute Dancing with the Stars dollop drew the most total viewers in D-FW Monday night, waltzing in with 352,079. ESPN's Monday Night Football (with the Steelers beating the Redskins) and NBC's two-hour Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash tied for second with 298,935 viewers apiece.
The battle for advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds put Presidential Bash and CBS' Two and a Half Men on the leader board. Each drew 155,578 viewers in this coveted age range, with Monday Night Football barely behind (149,095 viewers).
Dancing with the Stars threw a hoof and limped in with 106,960 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo, running well behind CBS sitcoms How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory while tying with the network's CSI: Miami.
Fox's action combo of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Prison Break fired blanks all night. Terminator had just 59,787 total viewers; Prison Break hiccuped up to 79,716.
Both Fox dramas ran sixth from 7 to 9 p.m. in both total viewers and with 18-to-49-year-olds. Edging them for the fifth spot was TXA21's telecast of the Dallas Mavericks-Cleveland Cavaliers mismatch. The home team again fell apart in the fourth quarter to lose lopsidedly while home screens brought forth a sea of gray empty seats at the AAC.
LOCAL NEWS DERBY
WFAA8 ran up the score in the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news competitions. The ABC station won at those hours in total viewers, total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. WFAA8 shared the 25-to-54 gold at 10 p.m. with NBC5, which tied for first place.
The early morning numbers told a far different story. On Day 3 of the 20-day November "sweeps" ratings competition, Fox4 again ran away from the field at 6 a.m. with dominating wins in all three ratings measurements..
NBC5 placed second in these three key ratings barometers while WFAA8 found itself in a third-place tie with long-dormant CBS11 in the total viewer Nielsens. The two stations drew 73,073 viewers apiece compared to frontrunning Fox4's 159,432.
WFAA8 edged CBS11 in the total homes and 25-to-54 measurements, in each case running close behind second place NBC5. There's still a long way to go in D-FW's most turbulent local news time slot.
Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Oct. 31-Nov. 2)
11/03/08 09:39 AM
By ED BARK
Two giant-sized football games -- pun sort of intended -- dominated D-FW's weekend TV landscape.
Stripped of any and all super powers, the pea-shooting Dallas Cowboys were obliterated 35-14 Sunday afternoon on Fox by the swaggering New York Giants.
And on the night before in Lubbock, a near-miracle, last-second touchdown pass gave Texas Tech a wild 'n' crazy 39-33 win over previously No. 1 Texas on ABC's nationally telecast college game of the week. The Red Raiders remain unbeaten and now are the No. 2 college football team in the country while the previously unbeaten Longhorns slipped three rungs to No. 4.
The Cowboys are just plain rank.
OK, let's look at the numbers from the cheap seats. (Remember, we're now counting total viewers in addition to total homes. For a complete explanation, click on the October archives or here.)
Sunday's Cowboys-Giants mismatch, which began at 3:15 p.m. and mercifully ended three hours later, averaged 1.03 million total viewers and 697,200 homes in D-FW.
Those numbers both peaked between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m., with 1,209,000 viewers and 796,800 homes.
Saturday night's Tech-Texas game, which stretched from 7 to nearly 11 p.m., hauled in an overall average of 719,105 viewers and 430,770 total homes.
Nothing else really mattered over the weekend -- ratings-wise at least -- save for Friday's local newscast derby on Day 2 of the November "sweeps."
At 10 p.m., CBS11 took the top spot in both total viewers and total homes, with WFAA8 a very unaccustomed second in those measurements. WFAA8 settled for a single win among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
Fox4 comfortably won the 6 a.m. ratings battle in all three measurements, with NBC5 second and WFAA8 a distant third.
The three 6 p.m. golds as usual went to WFAA8, but the wealth was spread at 5 p.m.
WFAA8 and NBC5 tied at the earlier hour in total viewers. The Peacock took first in total homes, with WFAA8 tops among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Getting the month started
11/03/08 05:07 AM